Community Health Workers, Midwives and Doctors of Region Three are benefitting from a two-day workshop being conducted with the aim of reducing maternal deaths from haemorrhage in the Americas.
According to the DPI, the training workshop is facilitated by three International Consultants, Dr Adriano Bueno Tavares, Dr Gabriel Costa Osanan and Dr Diony Javier Cortes, of the Pan American Health Organisation / World Health Organisation (PAHO/WHO).
According to Dr Adriano Bueno Tavares, the objective of the workshop is to promote successful interventions for the prevention, timely and adequate treatment to reduce deaths due to obstetric haemorrhages, through the continuous use of health care and the community to health services.
He said that the impact of this workshop is to expect a five per cent reduction of maternal mortality due to haemorrhage in the intervention areas.
Coordinator of the Workshop, Dr Narine Singh from PAHO/WHO said that zero maternal deaths caused by haemorrhage is an initiative of the Pan American Health Organisation/World Health Organisation (PAHO/WHO) and its Latin American Center for Perinatology, Women’s and Reproductive Health (CLAP/WR), dedicated to preventing maternal deaths by Postpartum haemorrhage.
This initiative, he noted, consists of a series of actions to improve both access to health services for pregnant women and the quality of care for women with haemorrhagic complications from pregnancy.
Dr Gabriel Costa Osanan, in his remarks, noted that it is not impossible to achieve zero maternal mortality caused by haemorrhage, but in order to achieve it, a few key things must happen which includes health services must be strengthened, barriers to access remote areas must become easier, staff trained to handle obstetric haemorrhage and the availability of essential medicines and safe blood for transfusions must be ensured.
Dr Diony Javier Cortes spoke about the specific components of the workshop noting that Health Professionals will be trained in how to reduce the number of haemorrhages and how to ensure timely and effective treatment for cases that do occur. He said that the health officials will be exposed to specialised equipment and training to utilise that equipment.
He recommended that a network of midwives, obstetricians’ nurses and obstetricians at the rural level should be established in an effort to detect cases of haemorrhage early and also to refer women to a reference hospital soonest if needs be. He added that the strengthening of health systems, to ensure that health services are provided with safe blood and essential medicines, will be positive in this fight.
“It is a fact that severe obstetric complications require the attention of well-trained healthcare staff, as well as the necessary drugs and equipment to treat them, among other things and hence one of the axes of the workshop is to strengthen the capacities of Health Care Workers in the use of equipment that can stop bleeding, as well as in other skills to manage obstetric emergencies,” said regional Health Officer Dr Ravendra Dudhnath.
Participants of the workshop will learn how to stop severe bleeding by using different simulators, such as the Nonpneumatic Antishock Garment (NASG) which can be placed around the lower body of the woman experiencing bleeding and the intrauterine balloon which can be inserted into the uterus to reduce or stop blood loss. During the two-day workshop, participants will also be trained in the management of the emergency tool for bleeding known as ‘Code red’ and in the practice of conservative rescue surgeries.
Regional Executive Officer, Denis Jaikaran expressed gratitude to the team and noted that significant strides are being made in the field of health especially in Essequibo Islands-West Demerara.
He has assured all that measures are being put in place to strengthen health facilities in the region so as to ensure that the environment is conducive for working. I
n his closing remarks, he quoted the Director of PAHO/WHO, Carissa F. Etienne who said that “for every mother that dies there is a family that suffers, a community that becomes weaker and a country that becomes poorer.”
