Millenium Development Project

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Investigator: Suellen Miller, PhD, CNM, MHA
Sponsor: Columbia University

Location(s): Ghana

Description

One of the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals is to reduce the maternal mortality rate by 75% by 2015. Causes of maternal mortality include postpartum hemorrhage, eclampsia, obstructed labor, and sepsis. Many developing nations lack adequate health care and family planning, and pregnant women have minimal access to skilled labor and emergency care. Basic emergency obstetric interventions, such as antibiotics, oxytocics, anticonvulsants, manual removal of placenta, and instrumented vaginal delivery, are vital to improve the chance of survival. This project aimed at decreasing maternal deaths by evaluating the feasibility, accessibility and acceptability of a package of proven interventions for postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) in the Millennium Village in Bonsaaso, Ghana.