| 4 May 2022#maternalMHmatters #StrongerTogetherOn 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. |
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| The 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.The Riseup-PPD is an EU-funded COST Action dedicated to promoting women’s health in the peripartum period and to achieving a more standardized and unified approach in recognizing, treating, and preventing peripartum depression (PPD). It is an international, interdisciplinary network that joined forces to bring about changes in the field of perinatal mental health.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. The key message of the campaign is that maternal mental health matters, and that women, as well as their family and friends, need to recognize the signs of maternal mental problems and that they are not alone. Each year more researchers, organizations and institutions are recognizing the importance of this day and coming together for this cause. |
| Riseup-PPD Video on Why Maternal Mental Health Matters |
| Watch the Riseup-PPD Chair, Dr. Ana Ganho-Ávila from Coimbra University, explaining why Maternal Mental Health Matters! |
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| Riseup-PPD Statement on the Maternal Mental Health Day |
| This World Maternal Mental Health awareness day, with the theme #StrongerTogether, the Riseup-PPD network advocates for the need to:Address the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine and the specific needs of expectant and new mothers in war contextsRespond to the general increased mental health needs of expectant and new mothers across EuropeIt 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. |
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| Show your support, sign the WMMH Day campaign’s petition to get official recognition of the World Maternal Mental Health Day and become part of social change! Let us join forces to ensure equal health care and support for pregnant and postpartum women. |
