Zambia
In Zambia, only 44% of pregnant women deliver in a health care facility. The maternal mortality ratio is 830 (830 women die for every 100,000 live births) and the lifetime risk of maternal death is 1 in 27 (UNICEF, 2009).
Training in Zambia
In 2007 a large cluster-randomized controlled trial (RCT) was initiated in Zambia and Zimbabwe. This is to explore the crucial question of whether the LifeWrap, applied by midwives at primary health care centers, will save more mothers' lives than application only at higher level facilities. This is our first study to see whether early application results in even better outcomes that we have seen so far.
We have two sites in Zambia, one in the capital, Lusaka, one in the Copperbelt province. In Lusaka we work at the University Teaching Hospital and 12 clinics that refer to this hospital. In the Copperbelt we work at Kitwe Central Hospital and 7 clinics that refer to this hospital, and Ndola Central hospital and 7 clinics that refer to this hospital.
Ambulance taking woman to hospital
Randomized Cluster Trials represent the gold standard in research and we hope that the outcomes of our research will result in the World Health Organization’s inclusion of the LifeWrap on its list of essential devices, which will enable governments and NGOs to start buying and implementing the LifeWrap on a much larger scale.
Midwife talking to pregnant women.
Our personnel in Zambia include local Investigators Dr. Gricelia Mkumba and Dr. Christine Kaseba, and Lusaka Study Coordinator Rhoda Amafubma, and clinic and hospital Coordinators Ameldah Kabwe, Joyce Mwami, Rachael Simutowe, Hope Naganyika, Mary Sieta and Finely Sovi.
Funding for this study is being provided by the National Institutes for Child Health and Development (NICHD) and the Gates Foundation.
