Perinatal mortality rate (PMR), which indicates quality of care provided to women in pregnancy, at and after child birth and to the newborns in the first week of life, is high in Nepal. Published results show wide variation in PMR in the country. Higher rates are in the community and hospitals outside Kathmandu. Reduction of PMR is an important strategy in improving maternal and neonatal health...

OBJECTIVE To document the beliefs and practices of traditional midwifes in regard to pregnancy, delivery and puerperium. METHOD Taking advantage of a training course for 160 local traditional midwives from the Media and Huasteca regions of San Luis Potosí State, Mexico. Two of the teacher-nurses interviewed 25 of them, supported by a member of Náhuatl and Tenek communities. The participant's ...

OBJECTIVES To assess reducing travel time to perinatal care centers, and to examine whether reducing travel time influences the neonatal mortality rate (NMR). METHODS The travel time from a population centroid in each municipality to the nearest perinatal care center was measured using the Geographic Information System at two time points, 2002 and 2006. Areas with and without reductions in tr...

Background Perinatal audits are used to discuss the causes of stillbirth and neonatal deaths. These audit meetings are organized in every hospital and attended by mid wives, gynecologists, nurses, pediatricians, and managers from hospital and maternity care organizations at least twice a year. Every audit group formulates its own local improvements. Unfortunately it appears that not all improve...

To assess men's educational needs to improve their involvement in perinatal care we carried out a descriptive, cross-sectional study on 400 women seeking perinatal care in Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences hospitals and 400 men who were accompanying them. Participants were recruited using a quota sampling method. A questionnaire was used to collect information on demography, men's ...

INTRODUCTION Perinatal mortality rate is a sensitive indicator of quality of care provided to women in pregnancy, at and after child birth and to the newborns in the first week of life. Regular perinatal audit would help in identifying all the factors that play a role in causing perinatal deaths and thus help in appropriate interventions to reduce avoidable perinatal deaths. AIMS AND OBJECTIV...