Strengthening emergency obstetric care in Nepal: The Women's Right to Life and Health Project (WRLHP).

Introduction: The Women's Right to Life and Health Project contributes to Nepal's National Safe Motherhood Program and maternal mortality reduction efforts by working to improve the availability, quality and utilization of emergency obstetric care services in public health facilities.

Methods: The project upgraded 8 existing public health facilities through infrastructure, equipment, training, data collection, policy advocacy, and community information activities. The total cost of the project was approximately US$1.6 million.

Results: In 5 years, 3 comprehensive and 4 basic emergency obstetric care (EmOC) facilities were established in an area where adequate EmOC services were previously lacking. From 2000 to 2004, met need for EmOC improved from 1.9 to 16.9%; the proportion of births in EmOC project facilities increased from 3.8 to 8.3%; and the case fatality rate declined from 2.7 to 0.3%.

Discussion: While the use of maternity services is still low in Nepal, improving availability and quality of EmOC together with community empowerment can increase utilization by women with complications, even in low-resource settings. Partnerships with government and donors were key to the project's success. Similar efforts should be replicated throughout Nepal to expand the availability of essential life-saving services for pregnant women.