Challenges and opportunities for reducing maternal and neonatal mortality in developing countries

The collaborative research team of J N Medical College, Belgaum, India and Christiana Care Health Services, Delaware, USA is a member of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Global Network for Women’s and Children’s Health Research (GN).

The Belgaum site, over the past 5 years, has implemented a population based Maternal and Newborn Health Registry for tracking pregnancy outcomes and monitoring mortality trends to inform development of community based interventions aimed at improving health outcomes of mothers and children.

Although there is a significant increase in the proportion of facility births the perinatal mortality rate has remained almost unchanged. The site tested a multifaceted home-to-hospital continuum of Emergency Obstetric and Neonatal Care (EmONC) package that included community mobilization, improving the skills of birth attendants and strengthening quality of care at health facilities.

Additionally, building on prior work, the site has recently completed two research studies focussed on optimizing the use of misoprostol for management of PPH and implementation of the Helping Babies Breathe curriculum for reducing newborn mortality. Experiences from these studies will form the focus of this presentation.