I was reading an article today “Uganda’s maternal mortality ratio reduces” and began to think again about hemorrhage, the leading birth-related killer of mothers.
I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but as I get closer to bringing the clean birth kits to Laos, I am constantly thinking about how the kits will be used and to what effect. The kits specifically target infection which is certainly a step toward lowering mortality of moms and babies. But Active Management of the Third Stage of Labour is so important to maternal survival…and very very unlikely to be well-known in a home birthing environment in rural Laos.
On the maternova site, I have read about an aerosol Oxytocin that is in development that would eliminate the need for sterile injections and refrigeration. Another device being developed by Arsenal Medical, Inc. can be inserted in the uterus after childbirth and expands to control bleeding (funded by the Gates Foundation).
One step at a time…
Here is an excerpt from the article that talks about Active Management of the Third Stage of Labour:
major cause of death for pregnant mothers in the region (East Africa) is postpartum haemorrhage which is over-bleeding after childbirth. It accounts for 36% of the deaths. [The doctor interviewed] said that despite this, an assessment carried out in Uganda, Tanzania and Ethiopia in 2007 on whether health workers in the health facilities in these countries could correctly use the Active Management of Third Stage of Labour to prevent bleeding, only 5.7% of the health workers were correctly using the technique.
Active Management of the Third Stage of Labour is a technique used to prevent and treat mothers for over bleeding after delivery and is recommended for all natural deliveries.
The procedure requires a midwife to give a mother drugs to prevent bleeding within one minute of giving birth; to gently tag at the cord during delivery of the placenta and massage the mother’s uterus after delivery of the placenta.
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