.. Background: Trial of labour is a clinical test to assess the adequacy of pelvis and ability of fetus and mother to withstand labour. If progressive changes in dilation and station do not occur, a cesarean delivery is performed. Objective: Feto-maternal outcome after trial of labour in women with gestational age b/w 37 to 42 weeks. Study Design: Cross sectional study. Setting: Department of O...

BACKGROUND Criteria-based audits (CBA) have been used to improve clinical management in developed countries, but have only recently been introduced in the developing world. This study discusses the use of a CBA to improve quality of care among eclampsia patients admitted at a University teaching hospital in Dar es Salaam Tanzania. OBJECTIVE The prevalence of eclampsia in MNH is high (≈6%) wit...

BACKGROUND Increasing the number of women birthing with skilled birth attendants (SBAs) as one of the strategies to reduce maternal mortality and morbidity must be partnered with a minimum standard of care. This manuscript describes the quality of intrapartum care provided by SBAs in Mae La camp, a low resource, protracted refugee context on the Thai-Myanmar border. METHODS In the obstetric d...

It is presently being debated whether the partograph is a useful tool for labor supervision and, if useful, where should the action line be located between 2, 3 or 4 h to improve the fetomaternal outcome. This review adduces facts to show that this debate is because there is a poor understanding of the essence and purpose of the partograph. The partograph is a form on which labor observations a...

INTRODUCTION A ruptured uterus is a life-threatening obstetric complication that remains a major public health concern in low-income countries, particularly in Africa. It is a significant cause of maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality. In Uganda, the prevalence remains high largely because most women do not deliver in health facilities. Further review of this problem may be helpful in ...

Nigeria has the 47th highest gross domestic product (GDP) worldwide and is the world’s 8th largest exporter of petroleum. It has a maternal mortality ratio (MMR) of 800/100 000 live births. In contrast, Sri Lanka is 78th on the GDP list but has an MMR of only 92. Among the wealthy countries, Sweden has the 20th highest GDP and a MMR of 2, while USA, despite being the richest country in the worl...

Problem Suboptimal care contributes to perinatal mortality rates. Quality-of-care audit can be used to identify and change suboptimal care, but it is not known if such audits have reduced perinatal mortality in South Africa. Approach We investigated perinatal mortality trends in health facilities that had completed at least five years of quality-of-care audit. In a subset of facilities that beg...