Efforts to reduce the numbers of mothers and babies dying in childbirth in Papua New Guinea have received a boost with a new Australian-funded Childbirth Emergency Phone project in Milne Bay Province.
A free-call 24-hour hotline will now provide health workers with advice during complicated childbirths. The first of its kind in PNG, the hotline provides health workers with a direct link to a trained health worker in the Alotau Hospital labour ward.
The service will be accessible to more than 40 health centres and around 200 aid posts in the province, including many in very remote areas where there is no specialist advice. For about 80 per cent of these aid posts, this will be the first time they will be able to access this level of advice.
Solar mobile phone chargers and books on maternal health will also be provided to rural health centres in the province.
The project is funded through AusAID’s Economic and Public Sector Program, and is the brainchild of Professor Glen Mola of the University of PNG’s School of Medicine and Health Science.
‘There are many reasons why PNG, including Milne Bay Province, has a high maternal mortality rate. It is estimated that five women die every day in childbirth,’ Professor Mola said.
‘Some women think it’s unnecessary to have a supervised birth in health facilities. Even if a woman is able to get to a rural or remote facility there is often a lack of skilled staff and equipment to assist if there are complications.
‘Because women are not coming to health facilities for birthing assistance, they do not have access to family planning advice and services and often end up having unplanned pregnancies or pregnancies that are too close together.
‘I had the idea to set up a hotline because health workers need more support. I expect the hotline will encourage more women to make the effort to have a supervised birth in a rural health centre because they know they will get expert advice if something goes wrong.’
Milne Bay Provincial Health Authority Chief Executive Billy Naidi said PNG has one of the highest rates of maternal mortality in the world.
‘Rural health workers will now be able to use their mobile phones to receive real-time advice during time-critical medical emergencies,’ Mr Naidi said.
Head of AusAID in PNG, Stuart Schaefer, said Australia was interested in finding innovative ways to address health issues. The hotline project is one of a number of ways the Australian Government is helping the PNG Government address the high maternal death rate.
The pilot project will be extended to other provinces if it proves successful.