Saving Mothers' Lives in Rural Tanzania

Summary

An affordable generic drug stops postpartum hemorrhage. Thousands of women's lives can be saved by making it available to traditional midwives through local businesses in developing countries.

What is the issue, problem, or challenge?

Each year, more than 340,000 women die in pregnancy and childbirth, with 99% of these deaths in developing countries and hemorrhage the most common cause worldwide. Bleeding can be controlled in a clinic, but we have shown that traditional midwives can use inexpensive misoprostol tablets to save lives in a woman’s home. This is where most births take place and most maternal deaths occur in the developing world--well beyond the reach of hospitals and government health services.

How will this project solve this problem?

We help create a sustainable market for misoprostol by working with local businesses who sell it at a small profit. We work with manufacturers, assist with the regulatory process, co-sponsor policy meetings and develop educational materials.

Potential Long Term Impact

The project is uniquely scalable. Tanzania has been unable to lower maternal death rates to meet the U.N.'s 2015 goal of 75% reduction. With this drug, traditional midwives get their first effective technology and contribute to a reduction in deaths.

Project Message

When we started training for the Kigoma project, word spread. Pregnant women who knew their lives were in danger traveled 70km when they heard that we had a drug to stop bleeding after childbirth.
- Dr. Ndola Prata, Advisor, Tanzania study with traditional midwives

Additional Documentation

This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).

Resources

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