WHO Labour Care Guide

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)

• Description Evidence stage not applicable Certainty not assessed

  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.

  Applies to Maternal

  • 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.
  • Not stated in the source
  • Global (WHO guidance intended to inform national and local policy).
  • Labour and childbirth
  • Gestational age Not reported
  • Postnatal age Not reported

  Follow-up Not applicable (recommendation context)

  Certainty method

  Not assessed

  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

  Next evidence check due

  Not scheduled

  Sources and citations (1)

  1. Supports WHO labour care guide: user’s manual (WHO publication page)

     Webpage · World Health Organization · 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. · Published 2021-08-20 · ISBN: 978-92-4-001756-6

     Locator

     Overview, sentence 1

     How it applies

     The WHO publication page for the Labour Care Guide user's manual.

     Retrieved

     2026-10-14T18:24:19Z

     Source effective date

     Not reported

     Source state

     Current

     Snapshot hash

     2f30dd98ca5af897c1ef69adf9ab958e857f20fcd32f49c3a1bbb4b95c99f43b

     Reuse basis

     WHO publication page. No licence statement for the page or for the PDFs it links to was read, and the PDFs were not fetched. The page is not committed. Only short quotations with attribution are used, on the basis that WHO allows short quotes with attribution while the atlas is non-commercial.