The World Health Organization's recommendations on postnatal mental health: The advances made and consolidated limitations

Abstract

Background

The attainment of sustainable development goals has necessitated shifting focus from maternal mortality to maternal morbidity arising from perinatal mental health (PMH) conditions. In 2014, the World Health Organization (WHO) informed about insufficient evidence to recommend routine briefing for postnatal depression (PPD). However, the WHO Recommendations, published in the year 2022, provide for routine screening for PMH conditions including PPD, and anxiety, using validated tools.

Method

By adopting methods including comparative content analysis, and thematic analysis, this work underscores the health policy changes suggested by the 2022 Recommendations in contrast to the 2014 Recommendations, regarding the PMH conditions. The limitations and gaps left uncovered by the 2022 Recommendations will also be discussed in the context of findings of epidemiological studies.

Result

The 2022 Recommendations, unlike the 2014 Recommendations, consolidated positioning of PMH services in the postnatal healthcare framework and introduced road map for managing PMH conditions. However, the issues which still remained unattended can impede attainment of objectives of the 2022 Recommendations, and its positive impact. Policymakers need to be precautious about these limitations while formulating health policies based on the 2022 Recommendations.

Conclusion

There is an urgent need of adopting more holistic approach while introducing PMH related health laws and policies. Preclusion of antenatal care guidelines, and high-risk populations from the scope of these Recommendations warrants introduction of new recommendations, at the earliest, to fill the void.