This year, the World Health Organization is spotlighting urgent issues in maternal and new-born care with the 2025 World Health Day theme, Healthy Beginnings, Hopeful Futures. The campaign launches a year-long global call to action, urging leaders to end preventable maternal and new-born deaths and to prioritize the long-term health and well-being of women.

To mark the occasion, we spoke to Dr Luis Martinez Juarez, physician and Global Health researcher at the University of Manchester, whose work focuses on maternal and child health in complex settings. His recent publication, A Strategic Framework for Managing Gestational Diabetes in Mexico, offers new insights into how digital tools and global collaboration can improve pregnancy outcomes, especially in under-resourced and crisis-affected settings.

 

Can you introduce yourself and tell us a bit about your role and work at the University of Manchester?

My name is Luis Martinez, and I am a physician and Global Health researcher here at the University of Manchester.

I work as a lecturer at the university, where I teach and supervise students at the Humanitarian and Conflict Response Institute. My main interest is in maternal and child health, especially in places where health systems are under pressure or where access is limited. I also collaborate with other centres, like the Center for Humanitarian Health at Johns Hopkins University, the Center of Global Equity at the University of Michigan, and the Mexican Society of Public Health, around the important topic of maternal and child health.

 

You’re also part of the Humanitarian and Conflict Response Institute. Can you share what that involves and how it connects to your research?

The Humanitarian and Conflict Response Institute is a centre at the University of Manchester where people work on global health, disasters, conflict, and humanitarian action. For me, it’s a place where I can connect my work with other realities and regions in the world.

I’m originally from Mexico, so it’s really important for me to understand both local and global health realities. We are always asking how we can respond better when a crisis hits, but also how to avoid causing long-term damage, especially for the most vulnerable populations.

In humanitarian settings, weak health systems make issues like access to maternal care and managing chronic conditions even more urgent. My work looks at both immediate and long-term strategies to improve outcomes in these situations. That’s why I find it so important to bring both perspectives: global health and humanitarian health.

 

This year’s World Health Day theme is Healthy Beginnings, Hopeful Futures, focusing on preventing maternal and new-born deaths and supporting healthy pregnancies, births, and postnatal care. How does your research in gestational diabetes align with this mission?

My research focuses on the first 1,000 days which is pregnancy plus the first two years of a child’s life. This period is critical for a child’s development, long-term health, learning, and future opportunities. It’s a key concept in global health, public health, and humanitarian health.

These first 1,000 days are when people develop most of their potential for health, learning, and development. This period shapes the capacity someone will have for the rest of their life. So it’s a really important time for both mother and baby.

When mothers and babies don’t get the care they need, such as enough food, access to health services, stimulation for the baby, children often grow up with more health problems, have difficulties in school, and struggle to find jobs. This is well understood by the United Nations and is a key factor in the poverty traps we currently see.

Gestational diabetes is just one part of this picture, but it’s an important one because it’s the most common health problem during pregnancy. It’s often not well known or detected in time, this is true in many places, including my home country, Mexico. When it’s not treated well, it increases the risk of major health problems for both the mother and baby, not just during pregnancy but for the rest of their lives. For example, the risk for type 2 diabetes and coronary heart disease increases significantly for both mother and child, just because the mother had gestational diabetes.

 

Why do you think maternal health, particularly gestational diabetes, often gets overlooked in public health policies?

I think one reason is that many people see maternal health as something that only affects mothers during pregnancy and birth. But what happens during pregnancy stays with both the mother and the baby for the rest of their lives, and we’re not really seeing that clearly.

Gestational diabetes is the most common health problem during pregnancy, known as a comorbidity. But many professionals think of it as just a temporary issue. Because of that, it’s often not given the attention it needs. Health professionals may not offer the best care, and health systems often focus on other emergencies or conditions that seem more serious at the time.

In many countries, there isn’t enough information about how gestational diabetes affects mothers and babies, not just during pregnancy, but later in life. That’s why it’s not always seen as a priority, even though it leads to serious long-term health problems like type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

Pregnancy always involves both the mother and baby, but because the consequences of gestational diabetes usually appear later, it’s often forgotten. It doesn’t always seem serious right away, and it’s not well understood.

 

You mentioned digital health solutions as the missing link. How could better technology improve early diagnosis and long-term care for mothers?

When we talk about digital health, we’re talking about changing how care is delivered, especially for women who face more barriers, particularly in global and humanitarian settings. But this can also apply in communities here in Manchester, for example.

In maternal health, digital tools help solve three main problems: lack of access, lack of continuity, and limited information for both professionals and patients. Many women still struggle to get basic care during pregnancy. In rural areas, it’s common for women to have their first appointment very late, sometimes in the last weeks of pregnancy. This isn’t just a problem in Latin America or Africa, it happens even in Europe.

Pregnancy is normal, yes, but it comes with risks that need to be monitored. Digital tools help bring doctors to patients, even in remote areas. Through telemedicine, specialists in capital cities can support patients in rural clinics.

It’s not just about access. Many women move between clinics or hospitals during pregnancy. Simple tools like electronic medical records help keep all the information connected. We also need better systems to refer patients when they need more specific care.

Digital health also supports education. For example, mobile apps or SMS can provide reminders, information, and guidelines for a healthy pregnancy. In our work, we use predictive models to identify women at risk of gestational diabetes or preeclampsia during the first weeks of pregnancy.

These models can work offline and be used by community health workers in home visits or small clinics. That’s the potential, especially when supported with proper training and supervision. Much of this is possible thanks to big data and artificial intelligence.

 

How does addressing gestational diabetes tie into broader goals, like reducing health inequalities and improving outcomes in vulnerable communities?

Gestational diabetes is not just a medical issue, it reflects deeper social inequalities. Women living in poverty, in rural areas, or in countries with fragile health systems are more likely to miss consultations, get late diagnoses, and suffer worse consequences.

So when we improve how we detect and manage gestational diabetes, we’re also improving access to care for women who are often left behind.

Simple tools, like predictive models or digital health platforms, can help women in remote areas receive the same quality of care as those in big cities. But it’s not only about diagnosis. It’s also about follow-up, education, and long-term support to reduce the risk of chronic diseases linked to pregnancy complications.

When children grow up healthier, they have better chances of reaching their full potential. This is where societies are built. Addressing gestational diabetes and related conditions is about making health systems more fair, and giving more women and children, especially in vulnerable communities, a better start and a better future.

 

From your perspective at the Humanitarian and Conflict Response Institute, how do you see maternal health intersecting with humanitarian crisis and disaster response efforts?

That’s a really important question. Maternal health is often one of the first areas affected when a crisis happens, whether it’s conflict, natural disasters, or health emergencies. When health systems are disrupted, pregnant women and young children, especially in the first years of life, are among the most vulnerable.

At the Institute, we work on how to respond to these situations. We focus on the challenges women face during pregnancy in these new settings, access to care, safe delivery, managing acute or chronic conditions.

In crisis settings, these become even harder. Emergency responses often overlook maternal health, but it should be a priority. For me, linking maternal health and humanitarian health is essential. We can’t separate them, especially when people are already facing fragile health systems, and then face a new emergency.

 

If governments and healthcare systems fully embrace the recommendations from your research, what kind of long-term impact could we see for maternal and child health?

If these recommendations were really applied, the impact would be deep and lasting.

We would see better pregnancies and safer births. Detecting and managing gestational diabetes helps prevent complications for mothers and babies, both immediately and in the future. But it’s about more than just medical care.

When babies are healthy and stable, families can avoid long-term problems. Healthy children are more likely to do well in school, complete education, and access better opportunities. At the same time, mothers who stay well can avoid the stress and costs of chronic diseases.

Improving maternal health is about giving families a better future. It reduces poverty and inequality. It gives communities a real chance to break the cycle of poor health and limited opportunity.

There’s also a benefit for health systems, by preventing complications and chronic diseases, we reduce costs and make healthcare more sustainable. So improving maternal health isn’t just good for families, it’s good for entire health systems.

 

And finally, what message would you like to share with viewers, particularly students and future researchers, about the importance of maternal health and global health equity?

Maternal health is more than just a medical topic. It’s about fairness. The way a society cares for women during pregnancy, and for children in their early years, tells us a lot about its priorities.

We often think health is just about hospitals and doctors, but much of what shapes health begins in pregnancy and early childhood, and in the social conditions people live in.

For students and young researchers, my advice is simple: always look beyond the disease. Try to see the bigger picture. Conditions like gestational diabetes and preeclampsia are not just medical problems, they reveal where the health system is weak, where inequalities are worst, and where we have the chance to make the biggest difference.

That’s what global health is really about. 

 

Dr Luis Martinez Juarez is a Mexican physician and global health expert affiliated with The Johns Hopkins Center for Humanitarian Health, the Center for Global Health Equity of the University of Michigan, and the University of Manchester. He holds a Master of Public Health from the University of Liverpool and a Doctorate in Public Health from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. His career is dedicated to advancing health equity and improving health outcomes for vulnerable populations through research, policy advocacy, and education. 

You can read Dr Martinez Juarez’s full research paper here: A Strategic Framework for Managing Gestational Diabetes in Mexico

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