Asma Khalil: Maternal Mental Health Remains a Leading Risk
Asma Khalil, Professor of Maternal Fetal Medicine at St. George’s Hospital, shared a post on LinkedIn:
“May the 4th be with you – and may support be too.
Today the world leans into Star Wars Day, but more importantly, it’s also the start of Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week – and the two have more in common than you’d think.
Both remind us that no one should have to face the dark alone.
Pregnancy is so often spoken about as a time of pure joy. But for many of the women I see in clinic, it is also a time of profound vulnerability – and untreated perinatal mental illness remains a leading cause of maternal death in the UK.
The signs are not always loud. Sometimes they are the quiet ones: the woman who says she is ‘fine’ but isn’t sleeping, the partner who senses something has shifted, the appointment where a routine question opens a door that needed opening.
This week is a reminder to ask the question. To listen properly. To know where to refer. And, for those carrying something heavy themselves, to know that help exists and reaching for it is a strength, not a failure.
If you work in maternity care: this week is for the women in our clinics, and for the families behind them. Every mother deserves a circle of allies – people who notice, who listen, who act.
So today, of all days: may the force of compassionate care be with every family this week.”

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