Delivering Healthy Lifestyle Education to Pregnant Women By Midwives Using Evidence-Based Criteria: A Policy Brief

Pregnancy is a critical period. A healthy lifestyle during pregnancy has profound direct and indirect effects on the long-term health of the mother, the fetus and the newborn. According to studies, healthy lifestyle education for pregnant mothers in Iran, including at the level of primary health care, is not in a favorable condition. Lack of training program updates for midwives and lack of documented comprehensive educational content are among the reasons. The present policy brief aimed at dealing with this health problem by implementing the best evidence in practice. We propose "delivering healthy lifestyle education to pregnant women by midwives according to the best evidence-based criteria" to the health policymakers in Iran Ministry of Health and medical sciences universities. In this regard, it is recommended to systematically train midwives in healthcare settings, integration of healthy lifestyle education to mothers and primary health care programs, including that in the electronic health records of pregnant women, and continuous monitoring of these activities could be of great benefit.