By PPH Foundation
Postpartum haemorrhage, PPH, is a global maternal health challenge that no single country can address in isolation. Although the circumstances surrounding childbirth differ from one setting to another, women across countries can face the same emergency: severe bleeding after birth that requires rapid recognition, skilled care, medicines, blood and functioning health systems.
The World Health Organization, WHO, identifies PPH as the leading cause of maternal mortality worldwide. It affects millions of women each year, with the greatest burden falling on low- and middle-income countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
The scale of the challenge makes collaboration important. In 2023, WHO launched its Roadmap to Combat Postpartum Haemorrhage 2023–2030, developed with multiple stakeholders to align research, implementation, advocacy and policy efforts. The Roadmap recognises that progress requires cooperation among governments, researchers, health professionals, funders, innovators, civil society and other partners.
Countries also have different experiences and solutions that can inform one another. Approaches developed in one health system may provide lessons for another, while local experience can help identify where global recommendations need to be adapted to different realities.
This exchange is already taking place. A 2025 global update on the PPH Roadmap reported implementation of PPH treatment approaches in countries including Kenya, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Ghana, Malawi and Uganda, alongside work in other regions. The same update highlighted collaboration between WHO, FIGO and the International Confederation of Midwives in developing harmonised guidance for PPH prevention, diagnosis and treatment.
For Africa, cross-border collaboration is particularly relevant. Many countries face challenges involving health-worker capacity, access to essential medicines, blood availability, referral systems, data and timely emergency care. Working together can create opportunities to share evidence, strengthen training, develop innovations and build approaches that respond to realities across different health systems.
The 3rd International EndPPH Run demonstrated another dimension of this collaboration. With participation extending beyond Kenya to communities and teams in other African countries, the Run for Her campaign created a platform through which people could connect around a shared maternal health concern.
Such participation is more than symbolic. Public awareness can support conversations about recognising PPH, seeking skilled care, voluntary blood donation and the importance of prepared health facilities. It can also connect communities with organisations and health professionals working to strengthen maternal health.
The EndPPH Initiative is part of this wider effort to connect advocacy, research, innovation and health-system strengthening. Its partnerships across institutions and countries reflect the reality that preventing maternal deaths requires knowledge and action to move across borders.
Ending PPH will not mean every country following an identical path. It means countries being able to learn from evidence and from one another while developing solutions that work in their own health systems.
A mother experiencing severe bleeding does not have the luxury of waiting for systems to improve one country at a time. The response must be timely, coordinated and grounded in evidence.
The challenge is global. The knowledge is global. And the commitment to ensuring that no woman dies from preventable bleeding after childbirth must be shared across borders.
Sources
World Health Organization. (2023). A roadmap to combat postpartum haemorrhage between 2023 and 2030. Geneva: World Health Organization. ISBN 978-92-4-008180-2. World Health Organization
World Health Organization. (2025). Consolidated guidelines for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of postpartum haemorrhage. Geneva: World Health Organization. ISBN 978-92-4-011563-7. World Health Organization
World Health Organization. (2026). Consolidated guidelines for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of postpartum haemorrhage: Implementation guide. Geneva: World Health Organization. ISBN 978-92-4-011611-5. World Health Organization
Williams, C. R., Adnet, G., Gallos, I. D., et al. (2024). Research agenda for ending preventable maternal deaths from postpartum haemorrhage: a WHO research prioritisation exercise. BMJ Global Health, 9(11), e015342. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2024-015342. World Health Organization
PPH Roadmap Advocacy Working Group. (2025). World postpartum haemorrhage day: Renewing the global call to end deaths from postpartum haemorrhage. International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics. https://doi.org/10.1002/ijgo.70550. World Health Organization
World Health Organization. (2025). Bleeding after birth: Course on prevention, diagnosis and treatment of postpartum haemorrhage. Geneva: World Health Organization.