The Bixby Center for Population, Health, and Sustainability
  • About
    • About
    • Mission
    • Vision
    • Goals
    • Where We Work
    • Careers
  • People
    • Team
    • Archive
  • What We Do
    • Core Research
      • Global Population
      • Family Planning
      • Maternal Health
      • Safe Abortion
    • Special Programs & Initiatives
      • The OASIS Initiative
      • Girl-Child Education Initiative
      • Adolescent Reproductive Health
      • Women’s Health and Empowerment
      • Evidence for Development (E4D)
    • Opportunities
      • Internships
      • Volunteering
      • Fellowships
      • Mentorships
    • Teaching
      • Online Courses
      • Past Courses
    • Collaborations
    • Careers
    • Special
  • Publications
  • VSI Archive
  • News
    • News
      • In the Media
      • Press Release
      • Stories from the field
      • Newsletters
    • Events
      • Upcoming Events
      • Past Events
  • Contact

Saving Mother’s Lives: Preventing Postpartum Hemorrhage in Rural Ethiopia

August 27, 2009 / bixby / News
Ethiopian woman in market with her small child.

Ethiopian woman and her baby. The Bixby Center is researching innovative programs to reduce maternal mortality among rural Ethiopian women. They have concluded that misoprostol is a safe intervention at the community level to prevent postpartum hemorrhage, the leading cause of maternal death worldwide. Picture by Amita Sreenivas

Bixby researchers found that community health care workers in rural Ethiopia can effectively administer misoprostol to prevent postpartum hemorrhage, the leading cause of maternal mortality worldwide.   They argue that it is imperative that safe motherhood programs direct their efforts to tackle postpartum hemorrhage wherever the births occur.

In research published in the African Journal of Reproductive Health, Bixby authors demonstrated that postpartum hemorrhage at home births in rural areas has been greatly reduced with the use of misoprostol as a prophylaxis where women have limited access to health care.  Postpartum hemorrhage is associated with a third of maternal deaths in Africa.   This study found that prophylactic use of misoprostol in home births is both a  safe and feasible intervention and that community health care workers trained in misoprostol’s use can correctly and effectively administer the drug and champions  in reducing PPH morbidity and mortality.

To read the full study click Preventing Postpartum Hemorrhage Rural Ethiopia

To learn more about Bixby’s work preventing postpartum hemorrhage click here.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)

    Recent News

    • Quote: Ndola Prata

      Climate–Poverty Connections: Opportunities for synergistic solutions at the intersection of planetary and human well-being

      April 18, 2022
    • Ndola Prata’s Video Presentation: Innovation through Telemedicine to Improve Medication Abortion Access in Musanze, Rwanda

      April 15, 2022
    • a nice woman professor looking at you smiling wearing glasses with curly hair

      Ndola Prata on Tuesday, March 15, 2022, 11:40 am – 12:30 pm PDT

      March 11, 2022
    • Description of Bixby Center's summer internship 2022 and a female student with brown hair sitting and smiling next to the description.

      Bixby Center Summer Internships 2022: application is closed

      January 30, 2022

    Quick Links

    • What We Do
    • Announcements
    • Events
    • Opportunities
    • Careers
    • Stories from the Field

    About

    The Bixby Center for Population, Health, and Sustainability is dedicated to helping achieve slower population growth within a human right framework by addressing the unmet need for family planning. Learn more

    Connect

    University of California, Berkeley
    2121 Berkeley Way West, Suite 6100
    Berkeley, CA 94720-7360
    Contact | Map

    Follow @BixbyCenter

    View Bixby's group on LinkedIn

    ©2021 Bixby Center for Population, Health & Sustainability. All Rights Reserved.
    Web Design by HelloARI
    SPH Berkeley