Improving the health of mothers and children, reducing maternal, perinatal and infant mortality requires improving the reproductive health of women before and during pregnancy, regionalization of the statistical data registration and their analysis, perinatal care, and improvement of the organization and management of perinatal services and care.

Improving the registration and analysis of statistical data can only take place during the transition of the country to the live birth and stillbirth criteria recommended by WHO. This will help to correctly identify perinatal losses in the country, increase the ability to timely identify problems related to the quality of perinatal services provided by the health care system, provide an opportunity for effective management of the situation, taking measures to develop an adequate strategy and tactics to solve the identified problems, monitoring and evaluating these activities.

The maternal and child health service provides for the use of programs that support the improvement of the efficiency and safety of maternal and perinatal care, the transition to the criteria for live birth and stillbirth recommended by WHO, the mandatory regionalization of perinatal care, which will successfully achieve a reduction in maternal and child mortality in a number of countries for more than 30 years old.

On the basis of the “Activities Program for the Protection of Maternal and Child Health”, approved by the Cabinet of Ministers on September 15, 2006, it is planned to establish 7 perinatal centers in the country. Since ensuring the effective operation of perinatal centers requires reform of the perinatal service in the country, on the basis of the order of the Ministry of Health No. 190-S dated November 14, 2008, a working group was created in order to prepare the “Concept of Perinatal Centers Based on the Principles of Regionalization” and the development of the document was entrusted to the Public Health and Reforms Center. With the support of UNİCEF, which ensured the participation of international experts, this working group developed the "Concept for the perinatal care reform based on the principle of regionalization" for 2010-2014, which was submitted to the Ministry of Health.

The concept first of all clarified the main essence of the reform of perinatal care based on the principle of regionalization. Regionalization of perinatal care, consisting of consultations, treatment and obstetrics, provides for the distribution into 3 levels depending on the degree of risk in relation to pregnancy and diseases of medical institutions in a certain region that provide services for the protection of mother and child. The main essence of regionalization is the definition of criteria by which 3 levels of complexity of services provided to mothers and newborns are determined. Based on these criteria, women at high risk of pregnancy or newborns are referred to appropriate levels of facilities that have the capacity to provide the necessary services.

The basis of this concept is that at each level, existing technologies should meet the needs of patients at this level and ensure the completion of pregnancy / childbirth or treatment with the most acceptable result. Thus, depending on the clinical conditions, all pregnant women living in a certain area are guaranteed the provision of services necessary for them by medical institutions of the appropriate level. At the same time, women with physiological pregnancy have the potential for childbirth in a medical institution of any level.

The main goal of the reform of perinatal care based on the principle of regionalization is to reduce maternal, perinatal and infant mortality by improving the availability, quality and coordination of prehospital and inpatient care for pregnant women, women in labor and newborns.

The concept analyzes the situation associated with antenatal and perinatal services, characterizes early neonatal, late neonatal, perinatal mortality, infant mortality, and identifies the main models and problems that arise in the provision of services at each level. In addition, the concept widely covers the main goals, tasks for implementation, activities, guidelines, conditions for delivery to high-level medical institutions and placement in a hospital for pregnant women and newborn children, improving the referral system, cooperation of the perinatal service with other public health programs, important conditions related to the timing of the implementation and the financing of the program.

"The concept of the reform of perinatal care based on the principle of regionalization (2010-2014)", "Action Plan for 2010 of the concept of reform of perinatal care based on the principle of regionalization" were approved by the order of the Ministry of Health No. 29-S of 19.02.2010. The composition of the Coordinating Group of the Ministry of Health was also approved, which was charged with overseeing the implementation of activities according to the approved Action Plan until the end of 2010.