Nearly 76,000 mothers and 500,000 babies worldwide lose their lives to preeclampsia and related hypertensive disorders of pregnancy every year. To raise awareness of preeclampsia as a life-threatening complication of pregnancy, maternal health organizations around the world are joining forces to host the first-ever World Preeclampsia Day on Monday, May 22.
BC Children and UBC's own PRE-EMPT initiative is one of the co-sponsors of this globally-recognized day. The day's theme – "Be prepared before lightning strikes" – encourages pregnant women to recognize symptoms early and if they experience any, contact their healthcare providers.
In honour of World Preeclampsia Day, we asked our colleagues at PRE-EMPT to share a story about the impact of their work globally.
PRE-EMPT's Community Level Interventions for Pre-eclampsia (CLIP) Trial, led by Dr. Peter von Dadelszen, consists of three large cluster randomised controlled trials in India, Pakistan and Mozambique. Funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the project aims to reduce the burden of deaths and illness in mothers and babies through community-level prevention, case identification, monitoring and treatment of the hypertensive disorders of pregnancy.
CLIP identified poor availability of reliable transport as a major barrier to accessing health care in pregnancy and childbirth. As a result, in Mozambique, a community fund was created to cover the cost of transport for obstetric and other health emergencies. Communities agreed to put money into this fund to ensure long-term sustainability beyond the life of the CLIP Trial. To date, 16 people, of which 10 were pregnant or postpartum women, have used the fund to cover health care travel costs.
Such a simple thing can have huge impact. In Chicotona, Mozambique, the fund meant peace of mind for a new mother who was told during a regular postpartum home visit by her local community health worker that her blood pressure was high. As a result of her hypertension, she was provided an intramuscular loading dose of magnesium sulphate and an oral antihypertensive, and was referred to the nearest hospital. With the help of the community transport fund, she was able to reach the hospital, where she was diagnosed with pre-eclampsia, admitted and treated.
In Zucula, Mozambique, another pregnant woman shared that: "Although my family contributed little to the fund, I had the opportunity to benefit the full transportation fee. My family did not know what to do because they had no idea how they would take me to the hospital. I am also thankful very much the study team."
These stories highlight how building resilience within communities can address challenges to maternal and newborn health in settings with poor access to care. To learn more, follow PRE-EMPT on Twitter @UBCPREEMPT or visit the PRE-EMPT website.
Or, to learn more about global health activities happening across BC Children's and BC Women's, check out the Centre for International Child Health.
