Our Mission
The EURO-PERISTAT project’s goal has been to develop valid and reliable indicators that can be used for monitoring and evaluating perinatal health in the EU. The project began in 1999 as part of the Health Monitoring Programme and has continued into a third phase, with the ultimate aim of producing a European Perinatal Health Report and establishing a sustainable system for reporting perinatal health indicators.
Our Experts
The EURO-PERISTAT Action project has enlisted the assistance of perinatal health professionals (clinicians, epidemiologists, and statisticians) from EU member states and Norway and has consulted with members of other networks including SCPE to help develop and test a recommended indicator list. Using a multi-stage formal method called DELPHI, we were able to achieve consensus on a list of 10 core and 24 recommended indicators of perinatal health. Learn more about our contributing experts here.
In addition to the time contributed by our experts and their institutions, EURO-PERISTAT has received generous support from the European Commission Directorate General for Health and Consumers (DG-SANCO), and is currently funded by the European Commission Executive Agency for Health & Consumers (EAHC).
EURO-PERISTAT is coordinated in Paris through a partnership between Assistance Publique Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP) and the Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale (INSERM). Scientific work is led by a Steering Committee who meet regularly and work with representatives from each member state on the Scientific Committee.
Our Indicators
The EURO-PERISTAT indicators are grouped into four themes: fetal, neonatal, and child health, maternal health, population characteristics and risk factors, and health services. We defined core indicators – those that are essential to monitoring perinatal health – and recommended indicators – those considered desirable for a more complete picture of perinatal health across the member states. We also identified indicators for further development – those that represent important aspects of perinatal health but require further work before they can be implemented within the member states. You can learn more about our indicator development or download our full list of indicators here.
A study using data for the year 2000 was conducted to assess the feasibility of the EURO-PERISTAT indicators; the results were published in a special issue of the European Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Reproductive Biology and used for detailed analyses of health indicators in Europe. These articles can be downloaded here for no charge.
Our Publications
In addition to the articles published in the special issue of the European Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Reproductive Biology, we recently released the European Perinatal Health Report. This 280-page publication is the most comprehensive report on fetal, infant and maternal health in Europe to date. The report can be downloaded here for no charge.
