A resilient maternity care system

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed vulnerabilities in both countries’ maternity care systems, particularly in terms of hospital and staff capacities. Both countries introduced innovations to help mitigate these vulnerabilities and to develop a more resilient maternity care system. These included more community-based birth locations (e.g., the use of hotels as birth centres), the development of escalation plans (illustrating the actions that need to be taken when there is a crisis that has an impact upon capacity), and the digital storage of key documents. WhatsApp groups to communicate were set up among maternity care providers, and alternative transport options (e.g., dedicated taxis) were put in place for non-emergency transport during birth in case of shortages in ambulance provision.