WHO next-generation partograph: revolutionary steps towards individualised labour care?

In their recent commentary, Hofmeyr et al. anticipate that departure from the familiar partograph "may provoke anxiety and even antipathy among healthcare professionals".1 We agree that change is urgently needed to reach beyond the co-existence of "too little, too late" and "too much, too soon" care during childbirth.2 In particular, we applaud the World Health Organization (WHO) for their underlying Better Outcomes in Labour Difficulty (BOLD) project, which has disclosed the urgency of delaying the onset of the active phase of the first stage of labour from 3-4 centimeters of cervical dilatation to at least 5 centimetre.3.