A new study showed that a special set of treatments can stop postpartum (or after-birth) bleeding in 60% of cases. This treatment called ‘E-MOTIVE’ was made by the World Health Organization and the University of Birmingham. It uses a cheap blood collection drape and other treatments suggested by WHO to prevent too much blood loss at birth, which might otherwise lead to death for mothers.
Scientists have made an amazing discovery that might help save the lives of many mothers and infants. It’s called E-MOTIVE, and it was shared in a study published by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the University of Birmingham on May 9th. This new solution could be very effective at reducing deaths related to bleeding during childbirth.
Postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) is what happens when a woman loses more than 500 mL of blood within 24 hours after giving birth. Sadly, it affects 14 million women each year and causes around 70,000 deaths mostly in countries with low and middle-income settings. That averages out to one death every six minutes.
Dr. Pascale Allotey, from the World Health Organization and lead of a research project about human reproduction, warned that postpartum hemorrhage can be very dangerous and have tragic effects all over the world. She emphasized that no woman should be afraid for her life when giving birth and that it is possible for solutions to be available so every woman will have a safe childbirth and a strong relationship with their families afterwards.
A recent study which looked at more than 200 000 women from countries around the world found that using a simple and inexpensive collection tool called a ‘drape’ and giving different treatments all at once instead of one after another, improved the outcomes for these women significantly. This led to a 60% decrease in very heavy bleeding (when a woman loses over 1 liter of blood) after birth, as well as less deaths.
The rate of people needing a blood transfusion due to bleeding decreased significantly, which is really great news since in some places where money is very tight, getting blood is expensive and not easy to buy.
Professor Arri Coomarasamy led a trial which could drastically improve the lives of women around the world who are giving birth. He says that when you are treating postpartum hemorrhage, time is extremely important – any delay in treatment could be disastrous. By using this new approach, it may help mothers to get what they need quickly so that they can survive childbirth safely.
Right now, it’s really hard to respond quickly and effectively when it comes to PPH because a lot of times, the bleeding is noticed too late. Most doctors check for bleeding with their eyes, but that usually doesn’t show how much blood is really lost and this can cause serious problems if help doesn’t come in time. Even when help arrives, usually doctors have to go through different steps instead of helping right away – which wastes more time if the first step does not work.
The E-MOTIVE package is designed to quickly detect severe bleeding after childbirth. It provides treatments like massaging the womb and giving medicine that can help stop the bleeding, as well as providing IV fluids and proper check-ups when applicable. Everything in this package is done by midwives, with extra training from an implementation strategy which includes having special cases ready and recruiting people to be local champions to support mothers.
In March of this year, over 130 experts from 50 different countries met for the World Health Organization’s Global Summit on PPH (postpartum hemorrhage) in order to identify solutions to reduce this problem. The goal of all these experts was to come up with a plan that would help reduce the negative effects of postpartum hemorrhage in lower and middle-income countries.
The findings from this experiment were shared on May 9 in the New England Journal of Medicine by a team of scientists from the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom, and the World Health Organization. They ran their test on 80 different hospitals located across Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and Tanzania.
A team of doctors, researchers, and scientists, led by Dr. Ioannis Gallos, conducted a study which has been published in the New England Journal of Medicine on 9 May 2023. This study was focused on early detection and treatment for postpartum hemorrhage (excessive bleeding after childbirth). Through this research they hoped to gain more insights into how best to treat this condition.
The E-MOTIVE project was given money to help it succeed by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
