Troubled maternity wards still jeopardising patients, watchdog warns
CQC inspection of nine struggling units suggests mothers and babies remain at risk from poor care and closed systems
The Taliban are not the only threat to Afghanistan. Aid cuts could undo 20 years of progress
The most vulnerable people will bear the cost of sanctions, as services and the economy collapse
Delivering babies in a Nigerian camp: ‘I’ve had to use plastic bags as gloves’
After seeing a woman die in childbirth, Liyatu Ayuba stepped in and has now delivered 118 babies in a community cut off from public health services
‘I knew how dangerous things could become’: the perils of childbirth as a Black woman
When she was pregnant, Anna Malaika Tubbs was thrilled – then terrified, knowing the shockingly high death rate of Black women in childbirth. Could she find a way to stay safe?
I’ve been delivering babies for 50 years. What exactly is a ‘normal birth’?
Pursuit of ‘normal birth’ has sometimes compromised the safety of mothers and babies, with consequences for maternity care
‘No discussion’: significant increase in women being induced for low-risk births, study finds
Induced births lead to higher rates of medical intervention and are not recommended in uncomplicated pre-term pregnancies, so why are they on the rise?
‘It’s easy to dismiss Black women’s lives’: Texas drags feet on maternal mortality crisis
As state legislature falls short on Medicaid expansion, campaigners vow to keep addressing healthcare disparities
Parent trap: why the cult of the perfect mother has to end
Worldwide, mothers are overworked, underpaid, often lonely and made to feel guilty about everything from epidurals to bottle feeding. Fixing this is the unfinished work of feminism
‘Raising a child without a village is doable – but lonely’: readers on the highs and lows of having a lockdown baby
Bringing a baby into the world can be tough at the best of times, and the pandemic has been far from that. Readers reflect on the pain and joy of new parenthood
Laura Dockrill on parenting, paranoia and postpartum psychosis: ‘I thought I’d been hijacked by a devil’
A month after the birth of her son, the writer and illustrator was on suicide watch in a psychiatric ward, experiencing severe delusions. Now her podcast is raising awareness of a condition that affects one in a thousand new mothers