Monash research shows how to close the maternal health gap

L-R: Dr Melanie Lloyd, Professor Zanfina Delaney

30 March 2026

Monash University researchers have unlocked the blueprint of how Australia’s health system can make better use of antenatal lifestyle coaching to improve patient outcomes and dismantle entrenched health inequality.

The study, published in the journal Value in Health, found focusing resources on women above the healthy weight range offers the greatest health gains, and delivering programs routinely through public hospitals is the most powerful way to close the health inequality gap.

Diet and physical activity coaching is already a proven evidence tool for preventing conditions like gestational diabetes and, consequently, type 2 diabetes. This research is the first to show how delivery of these programs should be prioritised to reduce health inequalities for socioeconomically disadvantaged women.

Lead author Dr Melanie Lloyd, from the Health Economics and Policy Evaluation Research Group, Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences (MIPS), said the health system should move away from a “one-size-fits-all” approach, where lifestyle advice is often unstructured or inconsistent.

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