Intrapartum care for a positive childbirth experience: from research to practice

Dr Olufemi Oladapo

World Health Organisation

Dr Olufemi (“Femi”) Oladapo is a maternal, perinatal, and newborn health research and public health expert, working as a Medical Officer in the Maternal and Perinatal Health & Preventing Unsafe Abortion team, of the UNDP/UNFPA/UNICEF/WHO/World Bank Special Programme of Research, Development and Research Training in Human Reproduction (HRP), Department of Reproductive Health and Research, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland. He qualified as an obstetrician-gynaecologist in Nigeria and was an Associate Professor and Consultant at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Olabisi Onabanjo University/Teaching Hospital, Sagamu, Nigeria, until 2013. He is a Visiting Professor at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Babcock University Teaching Hospital, Ilishan-Remo, Nigeria. He holds a Master’s degree in public health and the Fellowships of the West African College of Surgeons (FWACS) and International College of Surgeons (FICS).

Dr Oladapo served for several years as a master trainer and an international facilitator for the WHO workshop on Evidence-Based Decision-Making in Reproductive Health - a training workshop aimed at promoting best practices in reproductive health. From 2000, he led the clinical research and training activities of the Centre for Research in Reproductive Health, Sagamu, Nigeria (a centre collaborating with WHO in reproductive health research and training) and was the Centre’s Director of Clinical Research until 2013. Before joining WHO, Dr Oladapo collaborated with colleagues at the WHO Department of Reproductive Health and Research in various technical capacities, including consolidating evidence base for guideline development and research prioritization in RMNCH. His research interests lie primarily in maternal and perinatal health, with a special focus on systematic reviews and evidence-based obstetric care, quality of obstetric care, preterm birth, intrapartum care, and strategies to reduce the leading causes of maternal near-misses and deaths in underserved populations. He created the largest network of tertiary institutions for surveillance and evaluation of quality of care for maternal near-misses and deaths in Nigeria, to generate high-quality data on the burden and causes of life-threatening maternal complications and deaths between 2012 and 2013. He is a review author and member of the editorial team of the Cochrane Pregnancy and Childbirth Group.

Dr Oladapo joined the WHO Department of Reproductive Health and Research in 2013, where he provides managerial and technical leadership in evidence synthesis, research and guideline development to improve maternal, perinatal and newborn health. Since joining WHO, he played a key role in evidence syntheses and development of the WHO recommendations on: Augmentation of Labour; Interventions to Improve Preterm Birth Outcomes; Prevention and Treatment of Maternal Peripartum Infections; Pregnancy Management in the Context of Zika Virus Infection; and Antenatal Care for a Positive Pregnancy Experience. He is a member of the WHO Guidelines Review Committee where he provides methodological input and technical support to the development of guidelines across WHO. Olufemi Oladapo has published more than 110 research articles in peer-reviewed journals.