WHO Unveils Global Plan to Save Mothers and Babies From Pregnancy Disorders

Hypertensive disorders complicate an estimated 10–15% of pregnancies worldwide and account for around 16% of maternal deaths, representing approximately 42,000 women each year.

A routine blood-pressure check during pregnancy can reveal a danger that needs urgent attention, but many women still cannot count on receiving that basic care. The World Health Organization (WHO) and its partners have launched a global roadmap for 2026–2035 and beyond to tackle hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, including pre-eclampsia, bringing renewed attention to conditions that leave families facing bereavement, serious illness and health problems that can last for years.

Hypertensive disorders complicate an estimated 10–15% of pregnancies worldwide and account for around 16% of maternal deaths, representing approximately 42,000 women each year. They are linked to more than 500,000 stillbirths and newborn deaths, placing them among the leading threats to mothers and babies. Launched at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine Global Conference, the roadmap connects research and innovation, clinical guidance, access to medicines and diagnostics, implementation, advocacy and accountability in a shared response.

Basic Care Can Decide Whether a Woman Survives

For women in many countries, getting a blood-pressure measurement, a urine protein test or essential medicines remains uncertain, allowing dangerous complications to go undetected or untreated. Pre-eclampsia typically develops after 20 weeks of pregnancy and can progress to eclampsia, which involves potentially life-threatening seizures. Aspirin for eligible women, antihypertensive medicines and magnesium sulfate are established tools in prevention and care, but shortages of trained staff, weak referral systems and limited emergency obstetric services can prevent timely treatment.

Dr Pascale Allotey, Director of WHO's Department of Sexual, Reproductive, Maternal, Child, Adolescent Health and Ageing, stressed that pre-eclampsia can develop in any pregnancy, with survival depending heavily on timely blood-pressure checks and access to quality emergency care when the condition becomes severe. Women in low- and middle-income countries face particularly serious gaps in antenatal services, medicines and diagnostics, with poverty, humanitarian crises and geographic isolation making an already difficult journey to care even harder.

Research Must Deliver More Treatment Options

The roadmap draws attention to a major mismatch between the scale of the problem and investment in medicines specifically developed and approved by regulators to prevent or treat pre-eclampsia or eclampsia. Existing interventions can save lives, but research funding has concentrated largely on diagnostics, leaving new preventive and treatment options chronically underfunded. Better detection needs to be matched by stronger investment in treatments and the services that make those treatments available to women.

WHO brought together more than 140 partners at a global summit in May 2026 to identify and address 20 priority research questions that can guide future investment in predicting, detecting and treating these disorders. The roadmap brings that research agenda together with medicines, clinical guidance, stronger health systems and political action, reflecting Allotey's call for a woman's chances of surviving pregnancy and having a baby to be independent of where she lives.

The Health Impact Can Continue After Childbirth

Surviving a complicated pregnancy does not end every health concern, because women affected by hypertensive disorders face higher risks of chronic hypertension, cardiovascular disease, stroke and kidney disease later in life. Children exposed during pregnancy can experience complications associated with premature birth and increased risks of cardiovascular and metabolic disease as they grow. These lasting consequences extend the burden beyond the delivery room, affecting families' health and wellbeing for years.

WHO is calling on governments, funders, researchers, health professionals, industry, civil society and development partners to coordinate their investment and action around getting effective care to the women and babies who need it most. Success will depend on making proven interventions reliably available, supporting discoveries and strengthening the everyday services that help health workers recognise danger and respond before a pregnancy becomes a tragedy.