Mission and vision

With our work we are calling attention to the growing challenge of preterm birth and its significant impact on the children, families and our society. We want to reduce the enormous health and social inequalities linked to preterm birth. To address these disparities and to increase the standard of newborn care, we initiated and are coordinating the European-wide project European Standards of Care for Newborn Health. You can find more information about EFCNI in our brochure For the best start in life.

Our work is dedicated to improving the situation of mothers and newborn infants in Europe across the full spectrum of care, promoting and protecting the right to the best start in life:

The health of mothers is inseparable from the health of newborns in a way that the term “maternal-newborn health” is meanwhile commonly acknowledged and established. Hence, every woman and couple has the right to receive comprehensive information about the important factors that influence their own and their baby’s health as well as to high-quality care before conception and during pregnancy. We want to ensure widely accessible information and the provision of high-quality, targeted and effective maternal care.

Healthy children are our future. On the 9th Council of Europe, the Health Ministers declared that the rights of every child for equitable access to appropriate, child oriented and good quality care must be respected. Especially preterm and newborn infants must be guaranteed excellent, developmentally supportive treatment and care. With the development of best practice standards, we aim to continuously improve treatment and care for all children and their families across borders.

We seek to improve the long-term health and quality of life of preterm infants and ill newborns. This also includes the provision of medical, psychological, socio-pedagogical and financial support for the children and their families. Our goal is to compile European-wide standards to determine the care this patient group receives.