Management of post-partum hemorrhage in low-income countries

The provision of safe and effective delivery care for all women in poor countries remains elusive, resulting in a continuing burden of mortality in general and mortality from post-partum haemorrhage in particular. Deployment of a functional health system and effective linkage of the health system to communities are the necessary prerequisites for the provision of the life-saving technical interventions that will make a difference in individual cases. Sadly, two factors militate against progress: the mantra that ‘we know what works’ (resulting in some serious gaps in evidence for best practice in resource-poor settings) and a lack of large-scale investment in maternity services to counteract the degradation of infrastructure and depletion of human resources evident in many countries.

Key words: barriers to access to care, developing countries, health systems, post-partum haemorrhage