Reproductive Health Supplies Coalition and Laerdal Global Health partner to reduce deaths from postpartum hemorrhage

Postpartum hemorrhage is a leading cause of maternal death, and bleeding simulators and educational materials provide crucial training and support to healthcare personnel managing obstetric emergencies.

Now, recipients of an award from the Catalytic Opportunity Fund, managed jointly by RHSC and the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI), will receive birthing simulators and educational learning materials distributed through Laerdal Global Health’s (LGH) Buy One Gift One (BOGO) program. For every birthing simulator purchased in a high-income country, LGH distributes one to partner programs in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).

The simulators and educational materials provide healthcare personnel with realistic hands-on training opportunities to prevent and manage bleeding after birth. 

Jennifer Gilbertson, Director of Impact and Implementation at Laerdal Global Health, stated:

"RHSC shares our commitment to improving maternal outcomes by increasing access to hands-on training solutions. We are truly excited to support RHSC's work and believe that this partnership and catalytic fund will amplify the impact on preventing and treating postpartum hemorrhage (PPH). We hope that easier access to simulators and training materials will mean more healthcare professionals are trained, and more mothers will live."

The Catalytic Opportunity Fund for Introduction and Scale-up of New and Lesser-Used Postpartum Hemorrhage Medicines is funded by MSD for Mothers* and the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO).

Through this collaboration, Laerdal Global Health and RHSC aim to enhance the training methodologies of fund recipients by providing birthing simulators and Jhpiego’s Helping Mothers Survive Bleeding after Birth Complete printed materials for PPH management training. Laerdal Global Health will distribute up to 750 MamaNatalie simulators and Bleeding After Birth Complete (BABC) training materials in English, French, and Spanish, to RHSC grantees of the Catalytic Opportunity Fund. To support LMIC partners in scaling up, BOGO units are being offered to countries that are funding through this COF.

“14 million women experience PPH each year, resulting in about 70,000 maternal deaths globally,” said Milka Dinev, RHSC Regions Manager and technical lead for maternal health supplies. “At RHSC, we’re committed to increasing access to the lifesaving products that not only allow mothers to live but help their babies to thrive. We celebrate our partnership with Laerdal and are excited to see the impact of this milestone donation.”

This collaboration between RHSC and Laerdal represents a significant step towards improving outcomes for mothers and babies.

*MSD for Mothers is an initiative of Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ, USA.