The primary audience for this guideline is health professionals who are responsible for developing national and local health protocols and policies, as well as managers of maternal and child health programmes and policy-makers in all settings. The guideline will also be useful to those directly providing care to pregnant women, including obstetricians, midwives, nurses and general practitioners. The information in this guideline will be useful for developing job aids and tools for both pre- and inservice training of health workers to enhance their delivery of care to prevent and treat maternal peripartum infections.