The Safety and Feasibility of a Family First Aid Approach for the Management of Postpartum Hemorrhage in Home Births: A Pre-post Intervention Study in Rural Pakistan.

Objective: To evaluate the safety and feasibility of a Family First Aid approach whereby women and their families are provided misoprostol in advance to manage postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) in home births.

Methods: A 12-month prospective, pre-post intervention study was conducted from February 2017 to February 2018. Women in their second and third trimesters were enrolled at home visits.

Evaluation of health workforce competence in maternal and neonatal issues in public health sector of Pakistan: an Assessment of their training needs.

Background: More than 450 newborns die every hour worldwide, before they reach the age of four weeks (neonatal period) and over 500,000 women die from complications related to childbirth. The major direct causes of neonatal death are infections (36%), Prematurity (28%) and Asphyxia (23%). Pakistan has one of the highest perinatal and neonatal mortality rates in the region and contributes significantly to global neonatal mortality.

Verbal autopsy of maternal deaths in two districts of Pakistan--filling information gaps.

In Pakistan, the vital registration system is weak, and population-based data on the maternal mortality ratio are limited. This study was carried out to collect information on maternal deaths from different existing sources during the current year-2007 (prospective) and the past two years--2005 and 2006-(retrospective), identify gaps in information, and critically analyze maternal deaths at the community and health-facility levels in two districts in Pakistan. The verbal autopsy questionnaire was administered to households where a maternal death had occurred.

Safe motherhood in Pakistan.

The maternal mortality ratio in Pakistan remains high at between 350 and 500 per 100,000 live births, while the neonatal mortality ratio is 50 per 1000 live births. This paper examines the trends in maternal and neonatal mortality in Pakistan and looks at why slow progress has been made in attempts to achieve safe motherhood. Despite numerous initiatives, it is uncertain whether Pakistan will achieve Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5 by 2015.

Intimate partner violence before and during pregnancy: experiences of postpartum women in Karachi, Pakistan.

Objective: To assess the magnitude and determinants of intimate partner violence before and during pregnancy and attitude regarding domestic violence among a cohort of recently delivered women in Karachi, Pakistan.

Methods: A total of 300 women occupying every alternate bed in the postnatal wards of a public tertiary hospital were administered a structured questionnaire.

Results: Forty four percent (44%) of women reported lifetime marital physical abuse, 23% during the index pregnancy.