Optimal maternal and infant health is critical to parenting, societal well-being and economics around the world. There are significant cross-national differences in maternity care cultures, philosophies, organisation, provision of services and outcomes. The presentation will describe experiences and results of research on maternity, paternity, family and child health since 1990 and onwards, conducted in international (e.g. European) and national (Finnish) research collaborations. The aim is to advance scientific knowledge on ways of improving maternal and child health provision and outcomes.