Women and Children First (UK) is a UK based international development agency set up in 2001 to address the unacceptably high levels of maternal and newborn mortality and morbidity in poor communities in the developing world.

Women and Children First is working to achieve an equitable world where all women, children and adolescents have good health and mothers and newborn babies no longer die from conditions that are treatable or preventable. 

Since then they have established country programmes in partnership with local and national agencies and governments in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, India, Malawi, Nepal and Uganda, and provided Technical Assistance in Burma, Guatemala, Honduras, Malawi, Nicaragua and El Salvador.

They work in some of the world's poorest communities in Asia and Africa to stop mothers and babies from dying during pregnancy, childbirth or in the first few days and months of life. They do this through women's groups which have been recommended by the World Health Organisation.

They work to develop and share best healthcare practices to improve maternal and newborn health in poor communities. Their particular focus is on pregnancy and the first 28 days of life.

Their work reduces a woman's chance of dying due to pregnancy or childbirth by up to 50% and reduces the chances of newborn babies dying by 33%.

Vision
Their Vision is an equitable world where all women, children and adolescents have good health.  

Mission
Their Mission is to improve reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health where inequalities exist.

Activities
Women and Children First works in partnership with NGOs, governments and academic institutions to promote innovative, low cost solutions designed to reduce maternal and newborn mortality and increase wellbeing for girls and women (10-49 years of age) - particularly those who are pregnant or new mothers - newborns and children under five years of age. They develop and share best practice through extensive monitoring and evaluation of their work and disseminating lessons learned to health officials, policymakers, parliamentarians, other practitioners and advocates to ensure research findings are applied to policy and practice.

In partnership, they improve the health of mothers and their newborns by:

- Community mobilisation through women's groups
- Health system strengthening
- Policy and advocacy to create an enabling environment

They build the capacity of communities and health care workers to impove maternal and newborn health.