The Riseup-PPD celebrates Maternal Mental Health month
#maternalMHmatters #StrongerTogether

Watch the Riseup-PPD Chair, Dr. Ana Ganho-Ávila from Coimbra University, explaining why Maternal Mental Health Matters!

Statement on the World Maternal Mental Health 2022 
​#StrongerTogether #maternalMHmatters

May 4th  2022 – World Maternal Mental Health Day (MMH Day) 2022 draws attention to essential mental health concerns for mothers and families. Life changes around pregnancy make women more vulnerable to mental illness. The negative cycle of poverty and mental illness impact on a woman’s ability to function and thrive. This may also directly affect her foetus or child, with long-lasting physical, cognitive and emotional outcomes. Mental health care provides the necessary support to empower women to identify resources and personal capabilities. This can enhance their resilience to difficult life circumstances and support them to nurture their children optimally. Caring for mothers is a positive intervention for long-term social development.

On this day, maternal mental health activists, researchers, clinicians and people with lived experience come together to raise awareness and promote equal availability of mental health services for all women. Riseup-PPD is proud to have become a global partner of the World Maternal Mental Health Day (WMMH Day) campaign to raise awareness and enforce changes in peripartum mental health.

This World Maternal Mental Health awareness day, with the theme #StrongerTogether, the Riseup-PPD network advocates for the need to:

1. Address the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine and the specific needs of expectant and new mothers in war contexts
   
2. Respond to the general increased mental health needs of expectant and new mothers across Europe

​It is high time we set maternal mental health at the forefront of the public health agenda in Europe to reduce the immense financial burden of perinatal mental health disorders and break the cycle of intergenerational transmission of trauma and adversity.

​Download the full statement here. 

Statement on the World Maternal Mental Health 2021 
​#maternalMHmatters

May 5th  2021 – World Maternal Mental Health Day (MMH Day) 2021 is aimed at raising awareness surrounding maternal mental health issues worldwide. It is celebrated each year on the first Wednesday of May, deliberately chosen close to “Mother’s Day” and “Mental Health Week”. On this day, maternal mental health activists, researchers, clinicians and people with lived experience come together to raise awareness and promote equal availability of mental health services for all women. Riseup-PPD is proud to have become a global partner of the World Maternal Mental Health Day (WMMH Day) campaign to raise awareness and enforce changes in peripartum mental health.

​Download the full statement here. 

Statement on the International Women's Day 2021 #choosetochallenge

March 8th 2021 – On the International Women's Day 2021, the multidisciplinary EU-funded network of researchers and professionals on perinatal mental health, COST Action Riseup-PPD, raises awareness for the need to identify gaps in the management of peripartum depression, to make pregnancy and the postpartum a healthier life period for all women.

​Download the full statement here: bit.ly/iwd21statement

Statement World Mental Health Day 2020
Good Practices in Perinatal Mental Health is Needed During the COVID-19 Pandemic

October 10th 2020 - On World Mental Health Day 2020, the multidisciplinary EU-funded network of researchers and professionals on perinatal mental health, COST Action Riseup-PPD, continues raising awareness on good practices in perinatal mental health is during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Download the full statement here: bit.ly/wmhd2020statement

Statement World Health Day 2020:
​Research is needed to better understand the impact of COVID-19 on maternal mental health

April 7th 2020 - On World Health Day 2020, the multidisciplinary EU-funded network of researchers and professionals on perinatal mental health, COST Action Riseup-PPD, raises awareness of the impact of COVID-19 on maternal mental health.
In light of the unprecedented crisis brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, protocols for prenatal care and childbirth have been changing all over Europe. In the interests of safety, new practices are being adopted by perinatal health care services that seem to contrast with respectful and supported birth and postpartum period, negatively impacting new mothers' mental health and consequently their newborn. For instance, some countries are banning partners from accompanying women to the hospital and being present during labour, imposing restrictions on postnatal visits and seperating women from their newborn.

Therefore, we have decided to create a new Task Force "Perinatal Mental Health and COVID-19 epidemic" in order to promote best practices in maternal mental health that may mitigate the impact of COVID-19 management in women's mental health.
For more information, please access the full statement by clicking here.