Development of Power 4 a Healthy Pregnancy: reflective insights on cocreating an effective dietary program for pregnant women

While pregnancy is recognized as a “teachable moment” for lifestyle changes, many pregnant women struggle to meet dietary guidelines due to multiple barriers including limited nutritional support in antenatal care and challenges such as physical discomfort, food aversions, and conflicting information. Power 4 a Healthy Pregnancy (P4HP), a program that flexibly integrates four consultations into routine antenatal care, has demonstrated significant improvements in the quality of pregnant women’s diets. This article reflects on the program’s participatory development process, and examines how stakeholder engagement and empowerment principles shaped an effective program. We claim that the program’s success is rooted in its cocreation with midwives, dietitians, and pregnant women. The P4HP program offers valuable insights for developing other sustainable health promotion initiatives in antenatal care.