BACKGROUND To achieve the goal of safe care for mothers and infants during labor and birth, Catholic Healthcare Partners (CHP; Cincinnati) conducted on-site risk assessments at the 16 hospitals with perinatal units in 2004-2005, with follow-up visits in 2006 through 2008. ON-SITE RISK ASSESSMENTS: In addition to assessing overall organizational risk, the assessments provided each hospital a gap...

BACKGROUND Marondera District recorded perinatal mortality ratios of 58.6/1000 and 64.6/1000 live births in 2007 and 2008 respectively. These ratios were above provincial averages of 32/1000 and 36/1000 during the same periods. We determined factors associated with perinatal mortality in Marondera District. METHODS A 1:2 unmatched case control study was carried out from June to August 2009. A...

Perinatal deaths occurring within the City of Harare, Zimbabwe, during 1983 were studied. Data were collected from all known deliveries within the city. This included exact numbers from three central maternity hospitals, and from referring midwife-run maternity clinics. An estimate was made of the number of births and perinatal deaths occurring within the city, but outside these official matern...

Introduction: Despite similarities, perinatal and infant mortality rates between British Columbia, (BC) Canada and Finland differ. Key variables that may influence stillbirth, early neonatal, perinatal and infant mortality rates in BC and Finland were studied. Methods: After standardizing definitions, data for all births between 2001 and 2009 from provincial and national registries were used to...

BACKGROUND The concept of responsiveness, introduced by the World Health Organization (WHO), addresses non-clinical aspects of health service quality that are relevant regardless of provider, country, health system or health condition. Responsiveness refers to "aspects related to the way individuals are treated and the environment in which they are treated" during health system interactions. Th...

BACKGROUND In 2001, the WHO Antenatal Care Trial (WHOACT) concluded that an antenatal care package of evidence-based screening, therapeutic interventions and education across four antenatal visits for low-risk women was not inferior to standard antenatal care and may reduce cost. However, an updated Cochrane review in 2010 identified an increased risk of perinatal mortality of borderline statis...

OBJECTIVE To review the 30-year history of perinatal medical care in Japan, and the recently initiated regionalization system of perinatal centers, new technologies and treatments in obstetric and neonatal medicine developed in Japan. STATISTICAL DATA: Maternal and neonatal health statistics of Japan released by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, Japanese Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology, ...

HIV-1 is transmitted from mother-to-child (vertical transmission) at an estimated rate of approximately 30% without any antiretroviral therapy (ART). However, administration of ART during pregnancy considerably diminishes the rate of mother-to-child transmission of HIV-1, which has become a standard of perinatal care in HIV-infected pregnant females in developed countries. Moreover, a majority ...

Background: Since 2010, intensive care can be offered in the Netherlands at 24 weeks gestation (with parental consent) but the Dutch guideline lacks recommendations on organization, content and preferred decision-making of the counselling. Our aim is to explore preferred prenatal counselling at the limits of viability by Dutch perinatal professionals and compare this to current care. Methods: O...

RATIONALE, AIMS AND OBJECTIVES Loss of situation awareness (SA) by health professionals during handover is a major threat to patient safety in perinatal care. SA refers to knowing what is going on around. Adequate handover communication and process may support situation assessment, a precursor of SA. This study describes current practices and opinions of perinatal handover to identify potential...