# WHO Labour Care Guide Resource · id `maternal:who-labour-care-guide` · Maternal & Newborn Atlas · release `c7fb95f1d15a7d13` (public) > General information from published sources, not medical advice, and not reviewed by clinicians. Check the cited source before relying on anything here. The atlas's own text and curation may be reused under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/): credit the atlas, and do not use it commercially. See the atlas About page. Text quoted from a source stays under that source's own terms, given as the source's reuse\_basis. The atlas's reuse terms do not cover it. The downloads list each quotation with its source in third\_party\_quotations. Also called: LCG Browse, life stage: Childbirth Browse, care area: Labour and birth ## In plain language A tool from the World Health Organization for staff who care for women in labour. It supports good-quality, evidence-based and respectful care during labour and birth. A WHO expert group developed the first version in 2018 after reviewing and revising the design of the partograph, the older labour chart. A manual helps health workers learn to use it. ## Technical summary WHO publication page (20 August 2021) for the Labour Care Guide user's manual, ISBN 978 92 4-001756 6. The manual and the guide PDFs were not fetched, so the content of the form is not described here. Opinion survey of the first version: 110 skilled health workers from 23 countries completed it between December 2018 and January 2019 and generally rated the variables clear, relevant and recorded at the right frequency; they disagreed with the value of some variables, including coping, urine and neonatal status (Reproductive Health 2021, PMC7986022, CC BY 4.0). That survey measured opinions of the first version, not outcomes for women or babies, so this record holds no claim about the guide's effect. ## Claims, with the population each applies to ## Context: All women throughout labour and childbirth (WHO 2018 Recommendation 3) Recipient: Maternal; Population: All women in labour. The recommendation covers the whole of labour and childbirth and is not limited by risk or setting. The companion can be any person the woman chooses, such as a partner, a friend or relative, a community member or a doula, and WHO adds that her wishes must be respected, including a wish not to have a companion.; Care setting: Not stated in the source; Geography: Global (WHO guidance intended to inform national and local policy).; Life stage: Labour and childbirth; Gestational age: Not reported; Postnatal age: Not reported; Follow-up: Not applicable (recommendation context) ### The WHO publication page for the Labour Care Guide user's manual (20 August 2021) says the WHO Labour Care Guide is a tool that aims to support good-quality, evidence-based, respectful care during labour and childbirth. - Category: Description - Evidence stage: Evidence stage not applicable - Certainty: Certainty not assessed - Applies to: Recipient: Maternal; Population: All women in labour. The recommendation covers the whole of labour and childbirth and is not limited by risk or setting. The companion can be any person the woman chooses, such as a partner, a friend or relative, a community member or a doula, and WHO adds that her wishes must be respected, including a wish not to have a companion.; Care setting: Not stated in the source; Geography: Global (WHO guidance intended to inform national and local policy).; Life stage: Labour and childbirth; Gestational age: Not reported; Postnatal age: Not reported; Follow-up: Not applicable (recommendation context) - Limitations: This is the publisher's description of its own tool on its publication page. The manual and the guide were not fetched, so the content of the form is not described, and the claim says nothing about the tool's effect on outcomes. - Last checked: 2026-10-15 - Sources: 1. Supports: WHO labour care guide: user’s manual (WHO publication page) (Webpage, edition The who.int publication page, fetched on 2026-10-14. It shows 20 August 2021. The manual and the guide PDFs linked from the page were not fetched; the page text is the only WHO text read for this tool.) Locator: Overview, sentence 1. Retrieved 2026-10-14T18:24:19Z. Source state: Current. Snapshot hash: 2f30dd98ca5af897c1ef69adf9ab958e857f20fcd32f49c3a1bbb4b95c99f43b. How it applies: The WHO publication page for the Labour Care Guide user's manual. ## Connected pages - Labour monitoring tool used during labour and birth: Labour and birth (`maternal:labour-and-birth`) ## Provenance Content hash: 327d6c08436aff4d3466a9bd72236c14793aba831339ecb353e2db3e313d1079 Last substantive edit: 2026-10-14 Evidence last checked: 2026-10-14