Collaboration Builds Senegalese Health Workers' Skills to Save Women's Lives in Childbirth

Nov 11, 2010

Senegalese mother and child

A midwife trained in the lifesaving protocol preps injection, used to control bleeding after birth

Recent data show that since 2007, 165,000 Senegalese women were provided with care to actively manage third-stage labor during childbirth, a potentially lifesaving intervention that can prevent postpartum hemorrhage. The care was provided through the collaborative efforts of the Senegalese Ministry of Health and the Maternal and Child Health, Family Planning, and Malaria Project.

Nearly a third of all maternal deaths in Senegal are attributable to severe blood loss during and after childbirth.[1] Many of these deaths can be prevented if women receive a package of health care services—known as the active management of the third stage of labor (AMTSL)—that includes medication to stimulate uterine contractions after the baby’s birth, gentle pulling on the umbilical cord after it is clamped to aid the delivery of the placenta, and massage applied to the uterus during sustained contractions to limit blood loss.

The Project trained Senegalese doctors, nurses, and midwives to provide AMTSL as part of a collection of services that consists of family planning counseling, newborn care, and malaria treatment and prevention. AMTSL services are now available in 41 districts in five Senegalese regions. Additionally, the Project worked with the government to incorporate AMTSL training into the protocols and standard training curricula for health workers and to create a system to track deliveries by qualified providers.

 

[1] Ndiaye, Salif, et Mohamed Ayad. 2006. Enquête Démographique et de Santé au Sénégal 2005. Calverton, Maryland, USA: Centre de Recherche pour le Développement Humain [Sénégal] et ORC Macro.