Reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health

Improve and strengthen information and data collection on reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health (RMNCH) by bridging efforts for health information in RMNCH and creating a roadmap for further development.

The foundations of lifelong health are built on the best start in life: good reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health (RMNCH). More capacity, with less inequality, is needed in Europe to efficiently collect and use health information on these topics – for example, to improve people's lives, for public health surveillance, to inform policy, and for research.

The project will work in three areas:

First, to support and expand both capacities and coverage of the existing routine European data collections maintained by the Euro-Peristat network. The project aims to add Bulgaria and Croatia to the existing 29 countries. It will reinforce capacity and reduce inequalities in data production, transfer, sharing, analysis and use of perinatal health indicators from routine data systems on the national and European levels.

Second, to promote harmonization and integration by creating a research observatory for both (routine) RMNCH registries and (research) cohorts in Europe, building on the combined work of previous EU funded projects on birth cohorts (CHICOS) and child health research strategy (RICHE). BRIDGE Health aims to maintain and grow these networks to create greater involvement of stakeholders, enhance the work to harmonize and integrate cohort and registry data, and secure the wider use of existing data sources to explore the lives of women, children, and families, across Europe.

Third, to secure integration of RMNCH in the overall BRIDGE project, and develop a roadmap for a sustainable health information system for maternal, child and adolescent health in Europe. Representing a period of life, rather than a distinctive aspect of health, this work will coordinate closely with all other work packages and objectives of the BRIDGE project. Building on, and bringing together, the identified priorities and strategies from the Euro-Peristat, CHICOS and RICHE projects, we aim to harmonize and integrate RMNCH health indicators, methods and tools within a sustainable European health information system.

The main contributors to this research field are: