Supportive Care--A Missing Piece in the Current Global Efforts of Promoting Respectful Maternity Care.

This article explores the importance of supportive care in promoting respectful maternity care. It acknowledges that while interventions have been implemented to improve maternity care, they often overlook the provision of supportive care. Supportive care, which includes psychological and social strategies, can help pregnant women navigate the physical, mental, and emotional challenges of childbirth. The article emphasizes the need to incorporate supportive care into interventions and programs, examines how it is currently addressed in training manuals, and offers recommendations for the development of a comprehensive service delivery package for dignified maternity care. The inclusion of supportive care in recent guidelines is supported by evidence of its positive impact on birthing outcomes. The article also reviews various training manuals on respectful maternity care and identifies areas for improvement in terms of provider-focused information and health system integration. The authors advocate for a more holistic approach to supportive care by integrating psychosocial support for pregnant women, including their mental, emotional, and social well-being. They propose a two-pronged strategy that involves training maternity staff in evidence-based psychosocial support strategies and implementing processes at the health system level to ensure the systematic delivery of comprehensive care. This approach aims to make maternity care responsive, personalized, and equitable. The study was conducted as part of a larger research project approved by ethics review committees, and the authors have no conflicts of interest. [Extracted from the article]