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Laos: Maternal & Infant Mortality Stats

Why does Laos need Clean Birth Kits?

Here are the stats on Laos and maternal and infant mortality from GFMER – WHO – UNFPA – LAO PDR Training Course in Reproductive Health Research in Vientiane, 22 September 2009.

Health situation ( source census 2005 )
1. Crude Birth rate : 34.7
2. Crude Death rate : 9.8
3. Life expectancy : 61 Female : 63, Male : 59
4. MMR : 405/100.000 LB (MDG=260, US 11 per 100,000)
5. IMR : 70/1000LB  (MDG=45, US 7 per 1,000 — 34 countries better than US, Singapore has 2/1,000)
6.U5MR : 98/1000LB (MDG=55, US 7.5)
7.Total Fertility Rate : 4.5
8. Antenatal Care : 26.7%
9. Delivery at hospital: 10.8%
10. Postnatal care: 6.9%
12.water supply : 67.15 %
13.Sanitation : 45.68 %
14. AIDS prevalence : 0.02%
15. IBN coverage : 60%.

Simple Checklist to Prevent Maternal/Infant Deaths

Acording to this article from Impact, http://www.psi.org/impact-magazine/2012/05/can-simple-checklist-make-child-birth-safer, checklists have cut surgical deaths in half.  Makes alot of sense for birth.

PSI/India has joined a team led by the World Health Organization, Harvard School of Public Health, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and many others who are asking whether checklists can significantly reduce the nearly 5 million maternal and infant deaths a year associated with childbirth.

PSI/India and partners have assembled a 31-item list of reminders, from the simple – asking the mother’s companion to be present at the birth – to precise clinical signs of infection and hemorrhage. Their aim over the next three years is to test it in India to see whether childbirth-related harm, including death, in institutional deliveries can be significantly reduced through adherence to essential childbirth-related clinical care standards.

Helping Babies Breathe Initiative

The more I learn about clean birth kits and their usage, the more I understand how trained attendants are critical to the survival of moms and babies.

One amazing program that I have learned of is Helping Babies Breath.  This program trains midwifes, doctors,  nurses, and “in certain circumstances” traditional birth attendants in  neonatal resuscitation.  Here’s more:

The Curriculum

Helping Babies Breathe is a neonatal resuscitation curriculum for resource-limited circumstances. It was developed on the premise that assessment at birth and simple newborn care are things that every baby deserves. The initial steps taught in HBB can save lives and give a much better start to many babies who struggle to breathe at birth. The focus is to meet the needs of every baby born.

The Golden Minute®

Helping Babies Breathe emphasizes skilled attendance at birth, assessment of every baby, temperature support, stimulation to breathe, and assisted ventilation as needed, all within “The Golden Minute” after birth.

This article from USAID on The Golden Minute® is also worth a read.

 To reach five years, though, a child must take his or her first breath of life in the first minute following birth. The World Health Organization estimates approximately one million babies die each year from birth asphyxia, a condition in which babies who do not breathe on their own immediately following delivery.

5 Innovations to Save Moms

I am excited about this article, “Five Maternal Health Innovations That Could Save Lives on the PBS Newshour site.  Check it out for full details of each project.  I love, love, love seeing these innovative, simple solutions.

Here is the list of 5 and short descritptions:

1.  Preventing low birth weight with chewing gum

Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas

…Some chewing gums contain sugar alcohols, called polyols, that prevent gum disease2…

2.  Stopping HIV transmission with a vacuum pack 

Duke University from Durham, N.C.

…Duke University developed a foil, polyethylene pouch — much like a fast-food ketchup pouch — that can store medicine for months so that ARVs can be administered as soon as a child is born…

3.  Mobile heart monitoring and data gathering
Save the Children Federation from Westport, Conn.

—A mobile fetal heart rate monitor powered by human energy, which won a 2009 Index award, and a mobile phone based data gathering platform will be tested together to improve monitoring…

4.  An innovative alternative to forceps
The World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland

…The devices is a film-like polyethylene material that looks like an open plastic bag wrapped around the head of the baby, sealed and used to help extraction during complications…

5. Diagnosing with paper stamps
Diagnostics for All, Inc. from Cambridge, Mass.

…Diagnostics for All will create two postage stamp-sized paper tools that can detect anemia and hypoglycemia and hypertensive disorders, all indicators of high-risk pregnancy…

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