Advancing Medication Safety in Pregnancy 

Healthy Pregnancy Hub

Every pregnancy is unique; it has its own environment, symptoms, and challenges, varying from one person to another and even from one pregnancy to another. In some cases, taking medication is the best choice for the health of both the mother and the baby.

Over 3 out of 4 pregnant individuals take medications, but information about their safety during this period is often limited. With all the necessary information, everyone will have the tools to discuss with their healthcare team and make informed decisions for a HEALTHY PREGNANCY.

This initiative gathers a team of over 70 national researchers and more than 2,000 patient partners to provide accessible information based on scientific research.

Whether you are a future parent, a member of a perinatal healthcare professional team, or simply curious, this site will change how you get informed about medications during pregnancy.

Canadian Mother-Child Cohort (CAMCCO)

The Canadian Mother-Child Cohort is a Canadian initiative aiming to harness the power of provincial administrative databases in order to improve medication utilization safety in pregnancy. Pregnancy is a unique biological moment in any woman’s life, and the medications she uses during this timeframe may affect both the pregnancy as well as her health and the baby’s health. As pregnant women are often not included in most studies determining the safety of prescription drugs, the safety of new medications in pregnancy remains unknown.

The Canadian Mother-Child Cohort will bring together data from various Canadian provinces to address a critical public health issue facing Canada and the rest of the world: the impact of prescription drug use during pregnancy on long-term health outcomes in both mother and child.

Canadian Mother-Child Collaborative Training Platform (CAMCCO-L)

The first Canadian platform for transdisciplinary training in perinatal research on medications, complementary to university training and funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. The mission is to promote the development of skills and aptitudes necessary for translational and transectorial research, as well as interdisciplinary collaboration in perinatal research on medications.

Seventy-five percent of Canadian women take medications during pregnancy. However, in order to adequately interpret the benefits and risks of medication use during pregnancy, it is essential to train the next generation of scientists in transdisciplinary perinatal research, with knowledge in epidemiology, genetics, toxicology, pharmacology, causal analysis methods and artificial intelligence.

With CAMCCO-L training, the next generation of scientists will be provided with a set of tools and activities to innovate in the field of medications and pregnancy.