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Space-age technology to reduce maternal deaths

KUALA LUMPUR, 21 June 2013

(IRIN) – Space-age technology, neoprene (the same material used for wet suits) and Velcro have gone into an experimental garment health experts hope can treat postpartum haemorrhage, the leading cause of maternal mortality worldwide.

Photo: Akintunde Akinyele/Pathfinder International

A non-pneumatic anti-shock garment (NASG) is a half-body suit that is strapped onto a woman’s lower legs and abdomen to slow bleeding and prevent shock due to blood loss. 

“It works in two ways: it compresses the blood vessels in the lower part of the body, reversing shock by giving back oxygen to the heart, lungs and brain which are very oxygen-dependent tissues,” said Suellen Miller, director of the Safe Motherhood Programme/Bixby Centre for Global Reproductive Health at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) in the USA. Read the full story here.