CBK Info: WHO Showcase Supports CBKs

Review of WHO’s “Innovation Showcase” featuring Clean Birth Kits.  The findings  here  are positive:

From Pledges to Action, New Delhi, India, 13-14 November 2010

 Innovation Showcase

Cleaner, safer births

The need

More than 350 000 women die each year due to pregnancy and childbirth related complications. ¹ About 10 to 12% of these maternal deaths and 26% of the newborn deaths are due to severe infections.² Many of these are a result of unhygienic practices during childbirth. For example, nearly 46% of the home births in developing countries happen without a skilled attendant and expose women to these risks if clean practices are not followed. Conflict and emergencies can also expose women to unclean surroundings during childbirth. Simple cleanliness and hygienic delivery practices by a trained birth attendant can prevent life-threatening infections.

The innovation

Clean birth includes ‘six cleans’: clean hands, clean perineum, clean delivery surface, clean cord cutting, clean cord tying and clean cord care. A clean birth kit has items to address these: soap, a plastic sheet, a clean blade and clean thread.

Has it helped?

Clean birth kits are already used in several countries. When pregnant women and birth attendants are educated about it and use it, birth kits have a significant effect on reducing death rates. A review of 30 studies on clean birth kits estimated that if clean practices were followed in 90% of all home births, then the lives of 6,300 women and 102,000 newborns could be saved each year.² In Tanzania, clean birth kits were given to pregnant women and the use of each item was explained. This helped to reduce both cord infection and high-fever from infections (sepsis).³ In Egypt, too clean delivery kits were distributed through primary health centres after training and similar results were found.⁴ Since the mid-1990s, women and traditional birth attendants in Nepal have been encouraged to use a locally produced birth kit. This improved clean birth practices particularly when it was accompanied with training and education for women.²

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¹ WHO (2010). “Trends in maternal mortality 1990 – 2008.” (PDF). http://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/2010/9789241500265_eng.pdf
² Ronsmans, C. and W.J. Graham, Maternal mortality: who, when, where, and why. Lancet, 2006. 368(9542): p. 1189-200.
³ Mosha F et al (2005) Evaluation of the effectiveness of a clean delivery kit intervention in preventing cord infection and puerperal sepsis among neonates and their mothers in rural Mwanza Region, Tanzania. Tanzan Health Res Bull. 2005 Sep;7(3):185-8.
⁴ Darmstadt GL et al (2009) Impact of Clean Delivery-kit use on Newborn Umbilical Cord and Maternal Puerperal Infections in Egypt, J Health Popul Nutr. 2009 December; 27(6): 746–754.