Genetic Screening for Safer Pregnancies and Better Newborn Health | World Health Day 2025
2025-04-02
Improving mothers' and babies' health is a race against time, demanding immediate action and innovative solutions to prevent complications, safeguard pregnancies, and secure healthier generations ahead.
The World Health Organization’s campaign - Healthy beginnings, hopeful futures - to be launched on World Health Day 2025 emphasizes the importance of ending preventable maternal and newborn deaths while supporting women’s well-being across their lives.
Genetic screening technologies, including non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT), offer transformative solutions to address these challenges, helping ensure safer pregnancies and healthier futures for newborns.
Healthy beginnings, hopeful futures WHO poster for World Health Day 2025.
Maternal and Newborn Health: The Global Challenge
The statistics are stark: nearly 300,000 women die each year from pregnancy-related complications, and over 4 million babies either die within their first month or are stillborn—most of these tragedies are preventable. WHO data highlights that many countries are falling short of global targets to reduce maternal and newborn mortality by 2030. These inequities are exacerbated in low-income regions and conflict zones, where access to essential healthcare services remains limited.
Genetic screening has emerged as a powerful preventive tool in tackling these issues. Carrier screening helps identify individuals at risk of passing on genetic disorders, enabling informed reproductive choices. Meanwhile, newborn screening facilitates early detection of treatable conditions, preventing lifelong disabilities or fatalities.
NIPT: A Revolution in Prenatal Care
Non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) has transformed maternal care by providing accurate genetic insights without the risks associated with invasive procedures like amniocentesis. The NIFTY® Pro —a widely recognized NIPT option—boasts an accuracy rate exceeding 99%, offering expectant mothers critical information about potential chromosomal abnormalities while reducing anxiety during pregnancy.
Dr. Alfonso Alba, Vice President of Genetics at Atrys Spain, emphasizes NIPT’s role in improving prenatal diagnosis and its ability to analyze all autosomes and sex chromosomes comprehensively. He also highlights the importance of making such advanced technologies accessible to all pregnant women globally—a necessary step toward equitable healthcare outcomes.
Click here for full Dr. Alba's insights video.
Hebei Model: A Blueprint for Global Success
China’s "Hebei Model" demonstrates how integrating genetic screening into routine maternal care can significantly reduce birth defects. Since its launch in 2019, over two million pregnant women have received free NIPT screenings under this initiative, with satisfaction rates consistently exceeding 99%. The program’s cost-effectiveness is remarkable: for every yuan invested, societal savings amount to over 16 yuan—a testament to the economic and public health benefits of preventive care.
Mario Bustos-Rubilar, WHO’s Western Pacific Regional Officer for Deafness Prevention, visits Hebei’s Maternal and Child Health Hospital.
The Healthy beginnings, hopeful futures theme truly shows the urgent need for collaborative action to address maternal and newborn health challenges worldwide. By combining advanced genetic screening technologies with equitable healthcare access, we can work toward a future where every mother thrives and every baby gets the chance to grow up healthy.
About NIFTY® Pro
NIFTY® Pro is the ultimate non-invasive prenatal test that offers expectant parents comprehensive insight into their baby's health through a simple maternal blood sample. Using advanced next generation sequencing technology NIFTY® Pro screens for the risk of trisomy 21，13， 18, and sex chromosome aneuploidies, with extended screening for rare autosomal aneuploidies and 92 types of microdeletion and microduplication syndromes
About VISTA™ Carrier Screening
VISTA™ Carrier Screening uses Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) technology to identify individuals or couples at risk of passing on a genetic condition to their child, offering multiple panel options (Mini, Targeted, & 1200+). The latest 1200+ panel product can detect more than 1200 genetic disorders.
About BGI Genomics
BGI Genomics, headquartered in Shenzhen, China, is the world's leading integrated solutions provider of precision medicine. Our services cover more than 100 countries and regions, involving more than 2,300 medical institutions. In July 2017, as a subsidiary of BGI Group, BGI Genomics (300676.SZ) was officially listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.