New hope

Community-based misoprostol use to prevent postpartum haemorrhage

Dados Bibliográficos

ID11490809
AutoresNdola Prata (0000-0002-5913-0737, University of California, Berkeley), Paige Passano (University of California, San Francisco), Suzanne O Bell (0000-0002-7650-5940, University of California, San Francisco), S BELL, T Rowen, Tami S Rowen (University of California, San Francisco), Malcolm Potts (University of California, San Francisco)
Ano2013
Volume28
Fascículo4
Páginas339-346
Data de publicação2013-07-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoHealth Policy and Planning (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0268-1080 • E-ISSN: 1460-2237
EditoraOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/heapol/czs068
PMID22879523
OpenAlexW2133836464
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas5
Referências citadas37

The wide gap in maternal mortality ratios worldwide indicates major inequities in the levels of risk women face during pregnancy. Two priority strategies have emerged among safe motherhood advocates: increasing the quality of emergency obstetric care facilities and deploying skilled birth attendants. The training of traditional birth attendants, a strategy employed in the 1970s and 1980s, is no longer considered a best practice. However, inadequate access to emergency obstetric care and skilled birth attendants means women living in remote areas continue to die in large numbers from preventable maternal causes. This paper outlines an intervention to address the leading direct cause of maternal mortality, postpartum haemorrhage. The potential for saving maternal lives might increase if community-based birth attendants, women themselves, or other community members could be trained to use misoprostol to prevent postpartum haemorrhage. The growing body of evidence regarding the safety and efficacy of misoprostol for this indication raises the question: if achievement of the fifth Millennium Development Goal is truly a priority, why can policy makers and women's health advocates not see that misoprostol distribution at the community level might have life-saving benefits that outweigh risks?

Abortion · Birth attendant · Childbirth · Economic growth · Environmental health · Health care · Health services · Intervention (counseling) · Maternal death · Maternal health · Maternity care · Misoprostol · Obstetrics · Population · Postpartum haemorrhage · Pregnancy · Global Maternal and Child Health · Maternal and fetal healthcare · Maternal and Perinatal Health Interventions · Medicine · Nursing