Healthy beginnings, hopeful futures: our work in maternal and newborn health

4 April 2025 | By: Newcastle University | 5 min read

Illustration of pregnant women, health professionals and babies

World Health Day, celebrated on 7 April 2025, kicks off a year-long global campaign on maternal and newborn health.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) is calling for a worldwide reinvigoration of efforts to ensure access to high quality care for women and babies. At Newcastle University, our researchers are at the forefront of maternal and newborn health research. Their work is helping shape policies, improve healthcare practices, and address inequalities.

Read on to discover some of the ways we’re working to support healthy pregnancies and births, and better postnatal health.

Reproduction, development and child health: shaping a healthier future

Early life experiences play a crucial role in shaping lifelong health and wellbeing. Our interdisciplinary reproduction, development, and child health research focuses on understanding the key biological, behavioural, and social factors that influence health - from preconception through childhood and early adulthood.

The Newcastle University Centre of Research Excellence (NUCoRE) for Children and Youth connects researchers from multiple fields to collaborate on impactful research, promoting lifelong health and wellbeing for infants, children, and families. By collaborating with NHS partners, charities, and international institutions, the Centre is providing the evidence to improve health policies and interventions.

Tackling maternity inequalities

Professor Judith Rankin, Chair in Maternal and Child Health at our Population Health Sciences Institute, leads research across critical areas of maternal and child health. Her research interests include: risk factors in pregnancy, the health of vulnerable maternal populations, reproductive loss, and outcomes for children with complex needs. She has recently been appointed as a National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Senior Investigator in Public Health, recognising her significant contributions to NIHR and public health research.

Professor Rankin leads the Supporting Children and Families research theme within the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration North East and North Cumbria. The theme aims to develop better integrated health and social care for children and their families, improving outcomes and reducing inequalities.

‘Inequalities in maternal and infant outcomes are stark and accelerating. Our research seeks to produce and translate evidence that is innovative and impactful, particularly for those living in poverty or on low incomes, to reduce maternity inequalities, improve outcomes and the life chances and wellbeing of women and infants.’

Professor Judith Rankin

She has also recently been appointed as consortium co-lead for Research and Capacity Development for the new NIHR Challenge Maternity Disparities Consortium. The consortium will focus on inequalities before, during, and after pregnancy. Nine collaborations across the UK have been selected to make up the new consortium. A total of £50 million has been given by the NIHR, of which Newcastle is leading £25 million.

The consortium’s members span the UK, ensuring a wide perspective on tackling maternity inequalities. It will also have a long-term goal of supporting the next generation of research leaders in maternal inequalities healthcare, allowing ongoing research to improve care - and experience of care - for women and babies for years to come.

Maternal health and nutrition

The research of Professor Nicola Heslehurst, focuses on understanding and addressing inequalities in maternal and child nutrition. Her work explores how pregnancy nutrition, obesity, and access to routine care and support can influence the health of women and their children.

Her recent research includes studies that highlight the impact of food insecurity. Led by Newcastle University, in collaboration with Teesside University and King’s College London, the research examines the causes of food insecurity and its effects on maternal and infant health.

The findings show that expectant mothers who are considered ‘food insecure’ are up to four times more likely to experience stress, anxiety, and depression compared to those who don’t struggle to afford or access food. The research emphasises the urgent need for improved access to affordable, nutritious food, and greater support for women facing these challenges.

'When women experience food insecurity, they are at increased risk of developing mental and metabolic health problems during pregnancy. The drivers of food insecurity are largely social and political, meaning these increased risks are preventable. The number of people experiencing food insecurity in the UK is increasing, yet research and policy interventions to address food insecurity before, during and after pregnancy are lacking. This is an area of urgent investment needed to improve women's life-long health.'

Professor Nicola Heslehurst

This research provides valuable new evidence of the risks posed by food insecurity during pregnancy, reinforcing the importance of policy and healthcare interventions. However, further studies – especially in the UK where research is lacking – are needed to inform practice and policy to support maternal health.

The role of the microbiome in infant health

Professor Christopher Stewart leads a Newcastle laboratory where groundbreaking work in microbiome-based therapies is helping prevent necrotising enterocolitis (NEC), a leading cause of death in preterm infants.

His work revealed the role of human breast milk in shaping the gut microbiome, by providing abundant sugars that serve as an energy source for beneficial bacteria species. He has also established a novel premature gut organoid model and probiotic strategies to address NEC.

‘The more we understand about infant health, the more we appreciate how entwined it is with maternal health. From the microbes the mother passes to her infant during birth, to the vast health-promoting aspects of their milk, we are only just beginning to understand how critical this relationship is to both immediate and long-term health. Further research will help shed light on these mechanisms and identify where interventions may be targeted to maximise the health of the maternal-infant dyad.’

Professor Christopher Stewart

Recognised as the UK Life Sciences Laureate at the 2025 Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists, Professor Stewart’s work is changing both local and global clinical practice, including clinical trials to improve infant nutrition, and microbial-based therapy for infants in low-resource settings.

Supporting families through loss

The Where We Will Go project provides a powerful narrative on the emotional impact of losing a twin in a multiple pregnancy. Created in collaboration with the Royal Victoria Infirmary Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in Newcastle upon Tyne and the Tiny Lives charity, the project led to an award-winning film by Kate Sweeney that has been widely praised for raising awareness of this difficult experience.

The project builds on Professor Judith Rankin’s previous research with parents and health professionals, and Professor Anne Whitehead’s research on memory and grief. Together they wanted to create a resource that advocated for the experience of perinatal loss in multiple pregnancies and provided comfort to parents and families who have experienced a similar bereavement.

'Where We Will Go used arts and humanities approaches to explore in depth the grief involved in losing a twin at birth. Working closely with the parents enabled us to understand more fully the ongoing impact of the loss not only for them, but also for siblings and grandparents. We hope that the film will offer support to other families, as well as raising awareness of this complex form of grief.'

Professor Anne Whitehead

By shedding light on this deeply personal and complex experience, Where We Will Go helps create greater understanding, support, and recognition for families navigating the grief of losing a twin.

Understanding human development

Professor Muzlifah Haniffa is at the forefront of developmental research, leading efforts to map the human immune system from birth.

She leads a laboratory based at Newcastle University and the Wellcome Sanger Institute, applying disruptive techniques to understand how the immune system develops and maintains health. Her work helps uncover how cells interact and develop, paving the way for transformative medical breakthroughs in maternal and newborn health.

She is part of the pioneering Human Cell Atlas team, a global consortium that is mapping every cell type in the human body, creating a three-dimensional atlas of human cells to transform our understanding of biology and disease.

For the first time ever, researchers from Newcastle University and the Wellcome Sanger Institute have created a single-cell atlas of human prenatal skin to understand how skin forms and heals. Unlike adult skin, prenatal human skin has the remarkable ability to heal without scarring. Understanding the secrets of prenatal skin could unlock new opportunities for skin healing and be transformative for burn victims and people with hair loss.

Genetics and childhood immune disorders

Professor Sophie Hambleton’s research on rare childhood immune disorders has led to groundbreaking discoveries about genetic causes of conditions such as Severe Combined Immunodeficiency (SCID).

SCID and Omenn syndrome are rare genetic disorders that leave children without a functioning immune system, making them highly vulnerable to life-threatening infections. In a Newcastle University-led study, researchers were able to pinpoint genetic changes that can result in children born with little to no immune defence against infection. Understanding these underlying genetic causes is crucial for improving diagnosis, treatment, and long-term care for affected children.

By advancing our knowledge of these conditions, our research aims to close critical gaps – helping families receive a diagnosis and deepen our understanding of how the immune system works in health and disease.

Building capacity for early intervention: training healthcare professionals in infant development

Early detection of developmental differences in infants is key to providing timely interventions that can significantly improve long-term health outcomes.

Dr Anna Basu leads TEDEI (Training in Early Detection for Early Intervention), an interactive course designed to help healthcare professionals identify atypical motor development in infants as early as 0 to 6 months old.

Providing support at this crucial stage not only benefits infants but also enhances the well-being of their families. The goal of TEDEI is to ensure that infants with atypical motor development are identified as early as possible and enrolled in effective intervention programmes.

Towards a healthier future for mothers and babies

As the World Health Day Healthy Beginnings, Hopeful Futures campaign highlights, ensuring every mother and newborn has access to high quality care is essential.

Through continued research, collaboration, and innovation, we remain committed to supporting healthy pregnancies and births, as well as better postnatal health.