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Southampton researchers are working with academic colleagues in India and Norway and with the World Health Organization (WHO) to reduce avoidable deaths in newborns and expectant mothers. They're assessing the effectiveness of a group of specially trained health workers and new neonatal units.
福利着片 health academics, Professors Sabu Padmadas and Zo毛 Matthews are leading the scientific assessment.
They visited the districts where the initiative has been rolled out and are working closely with healthcare professionals. They found that the measures are having a positive impact.
They're also feeding back where services have room for improvement and sharing the practices that are working well with organisations including the WHO.
Sabu, Zo毛 and colleagues analysed:
The analysis was commissioned by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation and the Indian government.
, globally around 800 women die every day from preventable causes relating to pregnancy and childbirth. 1 in 5 of these women are from India.
To tackle this problem the Indian government introduced:
鈥淚n some northern states of India and many other developing countries, unhygienic conditions and lack of access to skilled care at birth substantially increase the risk of neonatal and maternal mortality. Promoting quality institutional care during childbirth is vital.鈥
Professor Padmadas
The measures themselves are part of the . They鈥檙e designed to improve child and maternal health in rural parts of India by increasing the use of care within a hospital setting during childbirth.
The government has trained over 40,000 women as front-line health workers in 13 districts of India. These Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) support women by:
So far, the health workers have:
鈥淲e鈥檝e seen that the ASHAs have a positive impact on health in local communities; they鈥檙e trusted and well known by the families, which is notable in rural India, where women traditionally have a low status.鈥
Professor Padmadas
Next, the team will focus on applying geospatial techniques. They want to map availability and access to maternal and newborn healthcare in remote districts.
