Submission to the National Strategic Directions for Australian Maternity Services

The APS submission to Australian Health Ministers’ Advisory Council (AHMAC)’s National Strategic Directions for Australian Maternity Services argued that an accessible, high quality and safe maternity service system should have maternal (and infant) health and wellbeing at its core. 

We highlighted the mental health difficulties faced by women and their families during this period and recommended the strategy include an explicit commitment to resourcing and supporting better mental health support throughout the system. 

A social determinants of health approach to maternity services was also put forward as a way to better acknowledge and respond to the influence of broader societal, economic and political factors on women and their babies. Recommendations were also made regarding the independent monitoring and measurement of the implementation of the National Strategic Approach to Maternity Services commitments to ensure an accountable and transparent maternity services system that is high quality, evidence based and better meets the needs of women and their families.

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