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The article focuses on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) Strong Start for Mothers and Newborns program. It discusses the perceived weaknesses in perinatal care with induction of labor and cesarean birth, the project including Medicaid beneficiaries, comparison between three models Group Prenatal Care, Maternity Care Home and Birth Centers.

The article offers information on the Australian Preterm Birth Alliance that was created in 2018 to safely lower the rate of early birth across Australia. Topics covered include data from 2017 which demonstrate that 8.7% of babies in Australia were preterm, the alliance's role in identifying preterm prevention strategies, and the Alliance's aim to lengthen pregnancy and optimise the timing of birth when planned birth is deemed necessary.

Many risk factors associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes can be identified and modified preconceptionally. Despite a broad consensus that preconception care should be provided to all couples of reproductive age, it has not been integrated in routine healthcare. There are several barriers to its implementation, and even in the most resourceful countries, it is only provided to some select high-risk groups, rather than being an organized healthcare service provision to all. Recently, China seems to be leading the way by implementing preconception care nationwide in all rural areas. Its National Free Preconception Health Examination Project is a unique model of comprehensive preconception care. Advantages of this ambitious project are now becoming evident and benefiting the most vulnerable sections of Chinese society. This commentary provides an overview of National Free Preconception Health Examination Project and highlights the concepts that could be further developed and adapted into a model of preconception care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]