Misoprostol in Pakistan Event at USAID

Trained traditional birth attendants in Pakistan provide misoprostol to prevent postpartum haemorrhage: a randomised placebo-controlled trial

Jill Durocher, Program Associate, Gynuity Health Projects
Jennifer Blum, Senior Program Associate, Gynuity Health Projects

Monday, January 24, 2011
2:00-3:00 PM
Ronald Reagan Building
1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20523
Room: 4.8 E/F

About the event: Postpartum haemorrhage (PPH) continues to be the leading single direct cause of maternal mortality worldwide. Despite global efforts to ensure that women deliver with skilled birth attendants and have access to conventional uterotonics for PPH prevention, 60% of births in low resource countries occur outside health facilities without a skilled attendant. In Pakistan, 65% of births occur at home and 27% of maternal deaths are attributed to PPH. Today’s talk summarizes results from a randomized controlled trial testing the impact of post-partum administration of 600 mcg oral misoprostol on PPH by Pakistani trained traditional birth attendants. The data show a 24% reduction in PPH among women given misoprostol after delivery. These results, in conjunction with other published reports on misoprostol for PPH prevention, support the drug’s effectiveness in preventing PPH in places where oxytocin is either not available or not feasible. We also hope that these results will bolster WHO support to list misoprostol for its specific PPH prevention indication on its Essential Medicines List.

Jill Durocher will share results from this newly published trial and discuss its implication for programs introducing misoprostol for PPH prevention. Jennifer Blum will be on hand to discuss how this relates to Gynuity’s current portfolio of work on misoprostol for the prevention and treatment of PPH globally.

Please join USAID and Gynuity Health Projects for this presentation—newly published in BJOG. All are invited. Please contact Tierra Smith (tsmith@usaid.gov) for pre-clearance into the building.