Mpilo Hospital (Zimbabwe) and Southmead Hospital (North Bristol NHS Trust): in partnership to save mothers and babies lives
Mpilo Hospital and Bristol in partnership to save mothers and babies lives: A timely intervention
Article Source: ZweOnline.Com
Only a week ago, Zimbabwe’s Deputy Prime Minister, Thokozani Khuphe, announced to the world that maternal mortality in Zimbabwe is actually higher than previously thought. She said;
“It is disheartening to note that the number of women in Zimbabwe dying during delivery has increased from 725 deaths for every 100 000 live births to 960 deaths for every 100 000 live births.” She also noted that “.. these deaths are increasing for both mothers and children further confirming the need for intervention.”
Yesterday, the UK government made an official announcement of an intervention already underway at Mpilo Hospital in Zimbabwe. An intervention that was developed to focus squarely on these problems. An answer to the DPM’s prayer of some sort.
Read on ….
Bristol medics chosen to save young lives around world
Original Source: Bristol247.com
Southmead Hospital’s maternity services selected to teach skills and pass on experience to counterparts in the developing world
Staff at Mpilo Hospital, in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, training with the PROMPT Birth Trainer designed by a team of midwives and doctors at Southmead Hospital and made by the Bristol based company Limbs and Things Ltd
Medical staff from a Bristol hospital have been chosen by the government to provide life-saving healthcare training in the some of the world’s poorest countries.
International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell announced yesterday that Southmead Hospital’s maternity services have been selected to teach skills and pass on experience to their counterparts in the developing world.
Dr Joanna Crofts, an obstetrician at Southmead Hospital, is part of the PROMPT team – obstetricians and midwives from the South West who deliver safe maternity care to organisations across the UK and the world.
She said: “This new partnership scheme will allow us to continue to develop our links with Mpilo Hospital, in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.
“The training encompasses procedures and skills during labour when babies have got into difficulty which has led to significantly improved outcomes for mothers and babies in Bristol and the UK.
“We have already been out to the Mpilo hospital in Zimbabwe to train their own members of staff in delivering this life-saving work.
“We believe the expertise we have gained at Southmead Hospital will help improve clinical outcomes for babies in these developing countries.
“Not only are we sharing this vital practice and knowledge but we are learning more ourselves about how our work can be used to make advances in maternity care.”
The scheme also benefits volunteers as they return to the NHS with increased knowledge, better leadership skills and an improved ability to deal with complex situations under pressure.
Speaking at the Royal College of Midwives to mark International Day of the Midwife, International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell said: “British nurses, midwives and medical teams are among the best in the world. The Health Partnership Scheme allows us to harness their expertise to help give developing countries the skills needed to improve the health of some of the world’s poorest people.
“It is an international scandal that one thousand women die every day in pregnancy or childbirth and tackling the tragic scale of maternal and child deaths is a key priority for the British Government.”
The programme is part of the government’s pledge to honour the international community’s Millennium Development Goals – to reduce by three quarters the number of women who die in childbirth.
Information about PROMPT (Source: North Bristol NHS Trust)
When PROMPT training was introduced at Southmead hospital in 2000 the number of babies born with birth injuries fell by 70%.
The training has improved outcomes for mothers and their babies, not only in the UK but across the world.
In Zimbabwe one in 43 women die as a result of pregnancy and childbirth, and it is hoped that introducing PROMPT training to Zimbabwe will save lives there.
A team of midwives and doctors from Southmead Hospital travelled to Zimbabwe in November 2011 to train midwives and doctors at Mpilo hospital to run their own PROMPT training.
Since November the staff at Mpilo have trained 75 of their own staff with more courses planned in June this year.
The partnership grant will enable the team at Mpilo and Southmead Hospital to evaluate the effect of PROMPT training at Mpilo and help set up PROMPT training in other local hospitals in Zimbabwe.
The Health Partnership Scheme (HPS) is a four-year programme to support the development of health services in some of the world’s poorest countries.
The scheme is funded by the Department for International Development (DFID) and managed by THET (Tropical Health & Education Trust).
