Washington, D.C., 8 June 2016 (PAHO/WHO) — A team from Massachusetts General Hospital met with PAHO's Latin American Center for Perinatology, Women and Reproductive Health (FGL/CLAP) to discuss how they can join forces to prevent women from dying of postpartum hemorrhage (PPH).
PPH is a leading cause of death worldwide and throughout the region, despite being preventable more than 90% of the time.
FGL/CLAP has been working with countries since 2014 to train health workers on the use of Non-pneumatic Anti-shock Garments (NASG), which is used to save women experiencing obstetric hemorrhage. The garment, which can be worn for up to 48 hours, reduces bleeding and keeps the woman stabilized until she can be transported to a specialized health center or operated on.
Much of the NASG training has been done in the framework of the Zero Maternal Deaths from Hemorrhage project with partners from ministries of health and the Latin American Federation of Obstetric and Gynecological Societies (FLASOG).
The Massachusetts General Hospital, a teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School, has been implementing a package entitled "Every Second Matters — Uterine Balloon Tamponade" (ESM-UBT) as a tool to stop PPH in Africa. The work has been done in partnership with Saving Lives at Birth, USAID, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Grand Challenges Canada, UKaid, and the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, among others.
A collaboration between PAHO and Massachusetts General Hospital would seek to package the NASG and ESM-UBT together and train trainers in pilot countries in the Americas.
