The proportion of women who bleed to death after giving birth in medical institutions has reportedly been reduced by more than half, according to researchers working with Niger's health ministry.In low-income countries, bleeding is the main reason for maternal fatalities. The initiative's supporters claim that it might significantly cut mortality rates elsewhere as well. It depends on adhering to a straightforward three-step procedure that uses an inexpensive medication.
The study was conducted over the previous six years, and the results, which were published in the medical journal The Lancet, are quite positive. An estimated 1,417 fewer women in Niger died from postpartum hemorrhage (PPH), often known as bleeding after childbirth, than would have otherwise happened during the research period. Additionally, it stopped tens of thousands of additional women from losing excessive amounts of blood.
In Niger, PPH currently causes one out of every ten maternal deaths, compared to more than three times that before the programme started. The non-profit organization Health and Development Initiative (HDI) offered a combination of treatments while collaborating with physicians and nurses around the nation. Giving a dose of misoprostol tablets, which are affordable and convenient to keep and should minimize bleeding, is the first step.
A condom connected to a catheter is put into the uterus and inflated if the bleeding has not ceased after 20 minutes. If that fails, a non-inflatable anti-shock garment is employed to buy the mother some extra time to travel to the hospital for blood transfusions. When expecting moms attend a clinic toward the end of their pregnancy, they are also given a dose of misoprostol that they are asked to bring back for the birth, but it can be taken at home. The researchers recommend that other nations try the strategy.
The Resident Technical Advisor for HDI in Niger, Dr. Zeidou Alassoum, asserted that "Niger has done it and other nations can too.This approach achieves rapid reductions in maternal bleeding-deaths and can stop millions more women from bleeding to death after giving birth around the world."
According to Prof. André Lalonde, a specialist in PPH, "reducing mortality caused by hemorrhage after women give birth, by more than half over a whole country within one or two years has to my knowledge never been done before." PPH causes somewhere between 25% and 43% of maternal mortality in poor nations.
Overall, almost 800 women each day pass away from pregnancy- and childbirth-related avoidable causes; the majority of these tragedies take place in sub-Saharan Africa and southern Asia.
In order to prevent diseases and guarantee health, it is important to create a stable healthcare system. Often there are too few medical professionals - especially in rural or poorer areas they are hardly available.
The global society carries out projects for an improved nutritional situation and creates access to clean drinking water and sanitary facilities as well as hygiene. In this way, the health of the people is strengthened and at the same time the risk of disease is reduced.
More information: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-64358784