India Pharma Outlook Team | Tuesday, 18 November 2025
WHO diabetes pregnancy guidelines published today are a significant change to the way the healthcare systems focus on a condition that occurs in one per six pregnancies across the globe.
Approximately 21 million women are vulnerable to risks linked to uncontrolled diabetes during pregnancy each year and the new framework is expected to impact on the reduction of dangerous complications to both mothers and newborn children.
The World Health Organization cautions that uncontrolled diabetes has a severe level of pre-eclampsia, stillbirth, birth injury and long-term cardiometabolic issues. These difficulties are the worst in low- and middle-income countries, where specialists, necessary medicines, and monitoring tools are not always available.
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“WHO has long issued guidance on diabetes and on pregnancy separately, but this is the first time we’ve provided a dedicated standard of care for diabetes in pregnancy,” said WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “These guidelines are evidence-based and designed to meet the realities of women’s lives, ensuring high-quality care for every woman, everywhere.”
The document presents 27 recommendations that are pushing toward personalized care, which includes nutrition, physical activity, and blood sugar goals. It also emphasizes the best monitoring, in and out of the clinic and at home, to identify and be able to control risks at an early stage. The guidelines separate the treatment requirements of type 1, type 2 and gestational diabetes when medication is required.
The guidelines will be launched on World Diabetes Day 2025, and they will be connected to the theme of the year, Diabetes Across Life Stages, which indicates that equitable access to care and tools is necessary. As this condition puts over 800 million individuals at risk around the world, the WHO guidelines on diabetes in pregnancy strive to empower the maternal health systems and contribute to long-term success of families worldwide.
