The impact and cost of scaling up midwifery and obstetrics in 58 low- and middle-income countries.

ABSTRACT:

Background and methods

To guide achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, we used the Lives Saved Tool to provide a novel simulation of potential maternal, fetal, and newborn lives and costs saved by scaling up midwifery and obstetrics services, including family planning, in 58 low- and middle-income countries. Typical midwifery and obstetrics interventions were scaled to either 60% of the national population (modest coverage) or 99% (universal coverage).

Findings

Under even a modest scale-up, midwifery services including family planning reduce maternal, fetal, and neonatal deaths by 34%. Increasing midwifery alone or integrated with obstetrics is more cost-effective than scaling up obstetrics alone; when family planning was included, the midwifery model was almost tw

SUBMITTER: Bartlett L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4062394 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature