This paper has demonstrated the need for standards of care to be applied throughout a country's health system to ensure the provision of high quality maternal and neonatal healthcare. These standards can be communicated to healthcare providers through the process of development and implementation of policy and service delivery guidelines. To guarantee that a nation's healthcare standards are state-of-the-art, international resource materials are available for use in the process of developing national guidelines to provide the evidence basis for the standards. These international materials can form the foundation of both policy and service delivery guidelines.
Development and implementation of guidelines must be tailored to suit each individual country's needs. The many steps involved in developing guidelines and then implementing them at the healthcare provider level can occur in a different sequence in each country. What is essential, however, is that a solid plan be devised to ensure that all healthcare providers who need the guidelines receive them, know how to provide services according to the standards set out in them and are convinced of the need to do so. Additionally, guidelines will only be implemented fully when a country's policies support them, the necessary infrastructure and resources are present, effective healthcare delivery systems are in place, and communities, as well as providers, have embraced them. When these elements are present, service delivery guidelines for maternal and neonatal healthcare will play a crucial role in improving the health of women and their newborns.
