News of the paper pelvis.

The Health Promotion Services department of James Paget Hospital NHS Trust based at Gorleston Great Yarmouth Norfolk launched the OBSTETEACH Obstetric Teaching Materials Project at the Developing World Health Exhibition held in London during January 1994. Working with the support of a financial grant allocated to promote the improvement of rural health care latex mouldings and plaster casts were used to produce in the UK mainly from paper mache over the course of 18 months models of a pelvis a fetus an umbilical cord and placenta and a breast. The obstetric teaching materials were evaluated during development by midwives in training and their teachers at Suffolk and Great Yarmouth College of Nursing and Midwifery with changes to the production of the models introduced following comments and suggestions made during trials. A ten-day pilot workshop was subsequently held in an area of northern Nigeria with limited access to medical facilities to assess the degree to which the teaching materials could be replicated using locally available and cost-effective materials and used to educate traditional birth attendants and other health workers in the field. Useful experience was gained for planning and conducting similar workshops. A Nigerian Project Coordinator was appointed and there will be ongoing monitoring and evaluation as the model production and usage progresses. Should adequate funding be available additional workshops could be arranged in the UK or overseas.