Building a Future of Equitable, Respectful Maternity Care

Our commitment to birth equity and maternal health with our AWHONN partnership

Huggies® and AWHONN(The Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses) are dedicated to addressing the issues contributing to maternal morbidity and mortality. Our commitment to birth equity and respectful maternity care, rooted in the belief that every mom and baby deserve the best start in life, is at the heart of our initiatives. Our supportive and collaborative ecosystem is aimed at creating lasting change and promoting equitable care to better serve all families throughout their healthcare journey and beyond

Understanding the Maternal Morbidity and Mortality Crisis

The maternal morbidity and mortality crisis disproportionately affects Black, Indigenous, and other women of color in the U.S. Our goal is to raise awareness and support change to ensure all birthing women receive safe, optimal, and supportive care throughout labor, birth, and postpartum recovery. Birth equity education is crucial in tackling these disparities. Watch these impactful videos to hear real family experiences and understand the urgency of this crisis:

• Introduction - The Maternal Morbidity and Mortality Crisis (2 min)
• From Advocacy to Action: Real Stories of the Maternal Morbidity & Mortality Crisis (16 min)

In Partnership with AWHONN: Evidence Based Practices for Respectful Care

In 2021 Huggies® partnered with AWHONN to sponsor the development of the Respectful Maternity Care Framework and Evidence Based Clinical Practice Guideline (RMC EBG). This first of its kind resource provides evidence based approaches to help reduce maternal morbidity and mortality outcomes, supporting birthing women and their families as they prepare for birth and postpartum recovery and begin breastfeeding and parenting. This program, which serves as a foundation for equitable care CNE programs, impacted almost 3,566,400 birthing lives in 2023, and efforts are being made to make these resources available in other regions of the world

Explore more about our partnership and access the AWHONN Respectful Maternity Care Guideline & Toolkit.

Huggies® Healthcare™ eAcademy

Our commitment to birth equity extends to comprehensive educational programs designed to support healthcare professionals and families.

1. Family to Family Support Network™ : Partnering to provide education on multiple topics within the maternal health space.

• CNE Nurse Education Series : Offering individual courses for continuing nurse education
• Respectful Equitable Caare(REC) Certification program: Empowering healthcare professionals to provide respectful, neutral, and compassionate patient care to all families through training.

2. Not On My Watch Consulting : Extending our education partnership to include leadership training courses delivered by our Executive Director of Maternal Health, Rose Horton, MSM, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN.

Discover our our full range of educational programs at Huggies® Healthcare™ eAcademy, empowering healthcare professionals to deliver equitable, compassionate care

Visit our partner's AWHONN Birth Equity page for additional learning, resources and tools available for your healthcare system. And to get involved, contact your congressional representatives to voice your support for this crucial issue, helping to drive meaningful change in healthcare equity.