Saving motherhood with new technology

LifeWrap is made of neoprene and VelcroTM and looks like the lower half of a wetsuit, cut into segments. This trouble-free piece of equipment helps women survive delays in getting to a hospital. Courtesy photo.

What you need to know:

POST-NATAL FIRST AID. Maternal death and disability means hardships and loss of productivity for nations. In Bangladesh, the Non-pneumatic Anti-shock Garment has been invented to decrease blood loss and preserve a woman en route to hospital, writes Naziba Basher.

A woman can bleed to death in a couple of hours, or even less, after giving birth. In rural areas, where hospitals may be days away or sometimes inactive or under-equipped, this leaves very little hope for women suffering from haemorrhage, the leading cause of maternal mortality. Across the globe, a woman dies every four minutes from such dire post-natal complications - many die waiting for the treatment they need. Many die without knowing why they are dying.

For every woman who dies a post-natal death, there are 30 women who suffer pregnancy or childbirth related complications (called a maternal morbidity).

These can be lifelong ailments, which can be dangerous and which compromise a women’s health, productivity, quality of life, family health, relationships and her ability to participate in her community. Maternal death and disability means hardships and loss of productivity for families, communities and nations. The problem is of so great a concern that in 2000, world leaders decided that improving maternal health should be one of the Eight Millennium Development Goals for the international community, and Bangladesh has been working hard to reach that goal.

In the past few years, we have seen a drop in the rate of maternal mortality (deaths from pregnancy and childbirth related complications), at least about 40 per cent. An achievement worth celebrating, studies have shown that the MMR (Maternal Mortality Rate) fell from 322 deaths per 100,000 live births from 1998–2001 to 194 deaths per 100,000 live births from 2007–10, an annual rate of decrease of 5.6 per cent. This decrease rate is slightly higher than what is required (5·5 per cent) to achieve the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target between 1990 and 2015.

The non-pneumatic anti-shock garment
Even with such a drastic and satisfactory decrease, there are still mothers at high-risk. There are some up-and-coming technologies which are now being researched and implemented to prevent these unnecessary deaths. One of these is the non-pneumatic anti-shock garment, which is a low-technology, first-aid device that can be placed on women who are haemorrhaging. This device decreases blood loss, recovers women from shock and keeps them alive while they are travelling to a hospital or awaiting treatment.

NASG or LifeWrap is made of neoprene and VelcroTM and looks like the lower half of a wetsuit, cut into segments. This trouble-free piece of equipment helps women survive delays in getting to a hospital and also in getting the treatment that they need. It can be applied by anyone after a short, simple training. To date, it has been used on over 10,000 women in 33 countries.
The NASG was introduced as a part of the Safe Motherhood Programme, founded by Professor Suellen Miller, of the University of California, San Fransisco.

Professor Suellen Miller is an internationally recognised expert in international maternal health. Professor Miller established the studies of the NASG. She has been the Principal Investigator of NASG clinical trials in Egypt, Nigeria, Zambia and Zimbabwe and has led the implementation of all Safe Motherhood’s international projects in, among other countries: Bolivia, Cambodia, the Dominican Republic, India, Mexico, Niger, Peru, Tibet, and Vietnam. “We started the Safe Motherhood programme at University of California, San Francisco in 2002. At that time, there had been no progress on decreasing maternal mortality in low resource countries. Despite attention to the problem of unnecessary maternal deaths, they continued. We began the Safe Motherhood programme in order to develop new methods and technologies to use to overcome the huge barriers to getting women to safety if they encountered complications of pregnancy or childbirth and to prevent complications whenever possible,” says Professor Miller.

After an easy training session, anyone can save a life by simply putting the garment on a bleeding woman. She can be safely transported to a hospital for emergency obstetrical care, but only once her bleeding is controlled. The NASG is light, flexible and comfortable for the wearer. It does not need to be removed for uterine massage, examinations or vaginal procedures, with the abdominal part only being opened for abdominal surgery. Upon wearing the garment, a patient’s vital signs are often quickly reinstated and consciousness is regained.

The Safe Motherhood programme is definitely a lifesaver in developing nations around the world. With maternal mortality being one of the leading causes of death in many third-world countries, this programme can help restore a whole nation’s well-being. The programme has plans for further extension, ultimately championing post-natal care for mothers everywhere. “There are now programmes or projects involving the LifeWrap/NASG in over 30 countries in every region.
We work with whoever in a given setting wants to include LifeWrap in their maternal health programmes. We invite interested people to contact us to discuss curricula for training and implementing Safe Motherhood in their countries,” says Prof Miller.

The necessity
A woman can bleed to death in a couple of hours, or even less, after giving birth. In rural areas, where hospitals may be days away or sometimes inactive or under-equipped, this leaves very little hope for women suffering from haemorrhage, the leading cause of maternal mortality. Across the globe, a woman dies per 4 minutes from such dire post-natal complications.

LifeWrap, which is a low-technology, first-aid device that can be placed on women who are haemorrhaging, can prevent these unnecessary deaths. This device decreases blood loss, recovers women from shock and keeps them alive while they are travelling to a hospital or awaiting treatment.

NASG or LifeWrap is made of neoprene and VelcroTM and looks like the lower half of a wetsuit, cut into segments. This trouble-free piece of equipment helps women survive delays in getting to a hospital and also in getting the treatment that they need. It can be applied by anyone after a short, simple training. To date, it has been used on over 10,000 women in 33 countries.
The NASG is light, flexible and comfortable for the wearer. It does not need to be removed for uterine massage, examinations or vaginal procedures, with the abdominal part only being opened for abdominal surgery. Upon wearing the garment, a patient’s vital signs are often quickly reinstated and consciousness is regained.

The NASG was introduced in 2002 as a part of the Safe Motherhood Programme, founded by Professor Suellen Miller, of the University of California, San Fransisco.