‘An estimated 340 000 maternal deaths, 2.7 million stillbirths and 3.1 million neonatal deaths occur worldwide each year – almost all in low-income countries.1–4 In some parts of sub-Saharan Africa, a woman’s lifetime risk of dying in childbirth is as high as one in seven…’

‘Since most deaths occurred near to delivery and because most obstetric complications are not recognized in advance, the intervention most likely, by far, to reduce mortality is the provision of high-quality emergency obstetric and neonatal care in hospitals capable of carrying out deliveries by caesarean section, blood transfusion and neonatal resuscitation in addition to other key elements of obstetric care, such as uterine evacuation of the retained products of conception, manual removal of the placenta, assisted vaginal delivery by forceps or vacuum and the administration of oxytocin, anticonvulsants and antibiotics.’

This is the conclusion of a paper in the August 2014 issue of the WHO Bulletin, The full text is available here:

http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/92/8/13-127464/en/

The paper underlines the importance of increased investment in healthcare facilities: ‘… as more emphasis is placed on delivery at health-care facilities and as women become more aware of the benefits, there has been an increase in the workload at referral hospitals in low-resource areas, many of which are underequipped and understaffed. Thus, even when a referral is made, the quality of care is often inadequate, especially for women who arrive late with a complication’.

CITATION: Sarah Saleem et al. A prospective study of maternal, fetal and neonatal deaths in low- and middle-income countries. Bulletin of the World Health Organization 2014;92:605-612. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.2471/BLT.13.127464

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