The quality of childbirth care given to women and newborns in the community and primary health centers across Uttar Pradesh based on WHOÂs Safe Childbirth Checklist has shown a marked improvement. However, the improvements were not sufficient enough to bring down the maternal and infant mortality, a latest study has shown. 

The BetterBirth study, one of the largest ever conducted in maternal-newborn health with more than 300,000 women and newborns, suggested  that after two months of coaching, birth attendants completed 73% of the essential birth practices as specified in the WHO checklist, 1.7 times better than the control arm at 42%.

The study also reported that proper administration of oxytocin immediately following childbirth to prevent maternal hemorrhage was 80% in intervention facilities as compared to 21% in control facilities; initiation of breastfeeding was done in 70% in intervention facilities while only in 4% in control facilities and skin-to-skin contact  was practiced in 79% cases in intervention facilities and only 11% in control facilities) between mother and newborn to warm the baby was significantly higher in intervention facilities. 

Similarly, appropriate measurement of maternal blood pressure was taken in 68% in intervention sites but only in 7% in control sites and measurement of maternal temperature was taken in 63% in intervention sites as against 0.3% in control sites while newborn temperature was taken in 43% cases at intervention site and only 0.1% control sites, suggesting significantly higher in intervention sites compared to control sites. 

At twelve months, four months after the coaching ended, completion of checklist items persisted at 62%, 1.4 times better than control facilities, which remained unchanged. There was no difference between intervention and control sites, however, in stillbirths, seven-day newborn mortality, and seven-day maternal mortality and morbidity. Perinatal mortality, for instance, was 47 deaths per 1,000 live births in both groups, the study found.

It is also the first study to rigorously demonstrate large-scale, broad-based improvement in care during the 48-hour period of labor and delivery when women and newborns face the greatest risk of death and complications. The study appears in the December 14, 2017 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

The research was led by Ariadne Labs, a joint center of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Brigham and WomenÂs Hospital in Boston, in partnership with the Governments of India and Uttar Pradesh; Community Empowerment Lab in Lucknow, India; Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College in Belgaum, India; Population Services International, and the World Health Organization. It was supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The quality of care around the time of childbirth has been recognized globally as a major contributor to the persistently high rates of preventable maternal and infant deaths in childbirth, even though more women are delivering babies at facilities. The WHOÂs Safe Childbirth Checklist was designed to target the seven major causes of death by helping birth attendants consistently follow basic practices such as handwashing and use of clean gloves to prevent infection,  monitoring and treatment of womenÂs blood pressure to prevent eclampsia, provision of uterine massage and appropriate medication to prevent maternal hemorrhage. 

In this randomized study conducted from 2014 to 2016, birth attendants and managers at 60 rural health centers in Uttar Pradesh were coached on use of the WHOÂs Safe Childbirth Checklist. Uttar Pradesh is IndiaÂs most populous state and has among the highest birth-related mortality rates in the country, making it strategically critical to IndiaÂs effort to reduce maternal and neonatal death. Sixty matched facilities that did not receive the intervention served as comparison sites. Coaches and independent observers recorded birth attendant performance, tracking obstacles and successes in implementing the Checklist. The birth attendance performance information was provided in real-time as supportive feedback to birth attendants, facility managers, and district health officials to encourage problem solving, communication, and teamwork. The intervention did not include skills training for birth attendants and did not provide supplies or medications. 

 ÂThese results are important because they show that major improvements in the quality of childbirth are possible, said senior co-author Dr. Vishwajeet Kumar, executive director of the Community Empowerment Lab in Lucknow, India, which has worked on maternal and infant health initiatives in Uttar Pradesh for more than a decade. ÂWe can build on this progress with initiatives that further strengthen the health system and provide the missing links required for reductions in mortality. Explanations the authors cited for the lack of impact on death rates include persistent gaps in skills, in supplies, or in systems for care of complications. ÂIn the end, a Checklist cannot substitute for other critical components of the health system. The agenda now is to bring together all of these system improvements so we can provide women and infants in Uttar Pradesh and elsewhere with the best possible care and outcomes, Dr Kumar said.

Based on evidence of improvement in essential birth practices, the WHO Safe Childbirth Checklist is now being evaluated and rolled out in more than 30 countries around the world, from Namibia, Nigeria and Indonesia to Mexico and Italy, as well as multiple states across India. Work underway is to identify methods for further improving implementation of the Checklist and to develop additional strategies to achieve mortality reduction.

Every day, more than 800 women and 7,000 babies die during the time around childbirth worldwide, while thousands more suffer life-threatening and lifelong complications. Globally, great strides have been made in lowering the deaths of women and newborns; however, there is substantial room for improvement as childbirth remains the No. 2 killer of women of childbearing age.