Egypt
Egypt has made great progress in reducing deaths from pregnancy and childbirth. In 2007 the maternal mortality ratio had been reduced to 46 per 100,000 but preventable and treatable obstetric hemorrhage continues to be the leading cause of maternal deaths.
Drs. Mourad, Miller and Blanc visit the pyramids
Dr. Suellen Miller and Egyptian colleagues embarked on the NASG Egypt pilot study in 4 hospitals in Egypt through the contributions and support of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation in 2004. The main purpose of the study was to find out whether applying the NASG to women experiencing obstetric hemorrhage would reduce blood loss and reverse shock.
The first study conducted in Egypt involved 364 women and showed that women in the NASG group had 50% less blood loss and 69% fewer deaths and/or morbidities, a category we called "Extreme Adverse Outcomes” (EAOs), as compared to the pre-intervention group.
LifeWrap on a patient
A subsequent comparative study was conducted with 432 women in the pre-intervention group and 588 women in the NASG group and showed that women in the NASG group had a 54% lower risk of dying, 78% lower risk of acquiring a severe complication involving organ failure and a 68% lower risk of having an "EAO". Further, women in the NASG group also had 33% less measured blood loss and 42% less blood loss in surgical cases.
These results show the NASG is promising for management of women with obstetric hemorrhage and that it is effective and useful in developing countries that have a well developed health care system and lower maternal mortality rates, serving to compensate for the delays and other problems that even busy urban hospitals may have.
These studies were funded by the MacArthur Foundation.
