Improving emergency obstetric care: a case study of the RPMM Network.

Though Maternal Mortality is said to be a rare event the realities in Africa indicate that it is not. The problem was highlighted in 1987 when the Safe Motherhood Initiative was launched. Since then various groups and organizations have been trying to address the problem in diverse ways. One such group is the Regional Prevention of Maternal Mortality Network which is based in Africa. For 8 years this Network developed implemented and evaluated projects that focused directly on improving emergency obstetric care at health facilities and facilitating early referral of cases from the community to prevent maternal deaths. The Network did so by reducing barriers to appropriate care when obstetric complications occur resulting in low Case Fatality Rates. This paper describes how this was achieved. The first phase of the research was conducted in 11 selected rural communities in Nigeria Ghana and Sierra Leone. In the second phase the Network is expanding the program and providing technical assistance to other countries in the region. Their main focus is capacity development in order to reduce the high numbers of maternal death in Africa. (authors)