Remarks

• These recommendations have been adapted and integrated from the 2012 WHO publication Optimizing health worker roles to improve access to key maternal and newborn health interventions through task shifting (278).
• The postnatal care Guideline Development Group (GDG) agreed that lay health workers who are trained and supervised can independently conduct safe and effective catch-up postpartum HIV testing, as per Recommendations 2a and 2b in this guideline, integrated from the 2019 WHO Consolidated guidelines on HIV testing services (41).
• The postnatal care GDG noted that universal access to and use of long-lasting insecticidal nets remains the goal for all people, including postnatal women and newborns in malaria-endemic settings (279). a This includes promotion of the following: postnatal care, family planning (distribution of condoms [male and female] and other barrier methods, initiation and distribution of combined oral contraceptives, progestin only oral contraceptives, emergency contraception, and information and general instructions on Standard Days Method, TwoDay Method® and lactational amenorrhoea method), postpartum HIV catch-up testing and retesting, sleeping under insecticide-treated nets, nutritional advice; nutritional supplements, basic newborn care, exclusive breastfeeding and immunization according to national guidelines.