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| Doctors helping to save mothers' lives | Doctors helping to save mothers' lives |
| (about 4 hours later) | |
| By Jane Hughes Health correspondent, BBC News Working in developing countries helps doctors improve their skills | By Jane Hughes Health correspondent, BBC News Working in developing countries helps doctors improve their skills |
| Patrick O'Brien is used to seeing women struggling with the pain and exhaustion of a difficult childbirth. | Patrick O'Brien is used to seeing women struggling with the pain and exhaustion of a difficult childbirth. |
| As a consultant obstetrician at University College Hospital in London, it is part of his day-to-day life. | As a consultant obstetrician at University College Hospital in London, it is part of his day-to-day life. |
| But even he was taken aback when he went to a hospital in Uganda, and saw lines of women in labour, all sitting on a hospital floor, waiting to take their turn on one of two delivery tables. | But even he was taken aback when he went to a hospital in Uganda, and saw lines of women in labour, all sitting on a hospital floor, waiting to take their turn on one of two delivery tables. |
| He was there to work with local doctors on improving the health of women giving birth. | He was there to work with local doctors on improving the health of women giving birth. |
| Uganda has some of the worst maternal health in the world. | Uganda has some of the worst maternal health in the world. |
| One in 25 women there die in childbirth. By comparison, the mortality rate in the UK is 1 in 8,200. | One in 25 women there die in childbirth. By comparison, the mortality rate in the UK is 1 in 8,200. |
| One of the biggest killers in developing countries is heavy bleeding after labour. | One of the biggest killers in developing countries is heavy bleeding after labour. |
| Reduced risk | Reduced risk |
| Mr O'Brien helped develop a programme to reduce the problem. | Mr O'Brien helped develop a programme to reduce the problem. |
| He helped staff in Kampala roll out the use of a pill called misoprostol that significantly reduces the risk of haemorrhage. | He helped staff in Kampala roll out the use of a pill called misoprostol that significantly reduces the risk of haemorrhage. |
| Because it only costs a few pence, and does not need refrigerating, it is ideal for women in developing countries, unlike the injection that is usually given to women in the industrialised world. | Because it only costs a few pence, and does not need refrigerating, it is ideal for women in developing countries, unlike the injection that is usually given to women in the industrialised world. |
| The benefits of the drug were discovered by a colleague, Hazem el-Refaey, when the two men were working together in the 1990s. | The benefits of the drug were discovered by a colleague, Hazem el-Refaey, when the two men were working together in the 1990s. |
| "It was thrilling to see the research I had been involved in being used in Kampala - and even more so, to hear about it being used in the middle of nowhere, where traditional birth attendants were handing it out," Mr O'Brien told me. | "It was thrilling to see the research I had been involved in being used in Kampala - and even more so, to hear about it being used in the middle of nowhere, where traditional birth attendants were handing it out," Mr O'Brien told me. |
| "I felt I'd really helped make a difference." | "I felt I'd really helped make a difference." |
| MATERNAL MORTALITY One woman dies every minute during childbirth, yet almost all of these deaths are preventable. | |
| In 2001, the UN set itself the goal of slashing maternal mortality by 75% by 2015, but it is nowhere near meeting that target. | |
| Health ministers from around the world are meeting in Ethiopia to work out how to make up for lost ground. | |
| The BBC is publishing a series of reports to mark the occasion. | |
| Mr O'Brien is one of a number of staff from UCLH who have been to parts of Africa and India to work with local medical teams on improving mothers' health. | Mr O'Brien is one of a number of staff from UCLH who have been to parts of Africa and India to work with local medical teams on improving mothers' health. |
| One project involved passing on better techniques for resuscitating new-born babies who were struggling to breathe, preventing them from becoming brain damaged. | One project involved passing on better techniques for resuscitating new-born babies who were struggling to breathe, preventing them from becoming brain damaged. |
| Elsewhere, doctors and midwives have been shown a pioneering technique to cool the body temperature of babies who have been deprived of oxygen, again limiting their risk of brain damage. | Elsewhere, doctors and midwives have been shown a pioneering technique to cool the body temperature of babies who have been deprived of oxygen, again limiting their risk of brain damage. |
| Valuable lessons | Valuable lessons |
| The benefits do not all go one way. | The benefits do not all go one way. |
| "Some of our work in Africa enables us to refine the research we've been doing in this country," said Mr O'Brien. | "Some of our work in Africa enables us to refine the research we've been doing in this country," said Mr O'Brien. |
| People come back inspired and reinvigorated, Patrick O'BrienConsultant obstetrician, University College Hospital | |
| But there are also advantages that are harder to measure. | But there are also advantages that are harder to measure. |
| "People come back inspired and reinvigorated," he told me. | "People come back inspired and reinvigorated," he told me. |
| "They are re-enthused by their work here in London." | "They are re-enthused by their work here in London." |
| And at an inner city hospital like UCLH that work includes seeing a big mixture of patients. | And at an inner city hospital like UCLH that work includes seeing a big mixture of patients. |
| Research shows that women living in from more deprived backgrounds tend to have many more health problems during childbirth. | Research shows that women living in from more deprived backgrounds tend to have many more health problems during childbirth. |
| The hospital is working to encourage more women from minority communities to see midwives and doctors earlier in their pregnancies. | The hospital is working to encourage more women from minority communities to see midwives and doctors earlier in their pregnancies. |
| Staff know that the sooner they can see a woman with complications like diabetes, for example, the better their chance of ensuring she has a trouble-free labour. | Staff know that the sooner they can see a woman with complications like diabetes, for example, the better their chance of ensuring she has a trouble-free labour. |
| And they also know that that level of care is still well out of the reach of the hospitals they have been working with in places like Uganda. | And they also know that that level of care is still well out of the reach of the hospitals they have been working with in places like Uganda. |