PRONTO’s PartoPants™, a low-cost birthing simulator, were featured in an article, “Three Innovations that Can Save the Lives of Pregnant Mothers and their Babies,” by the Spanish newspaper El Pais. The article was published before the Demand Solutions: Ideas for Improving Lives conference held November 15-16 in Buenos Aires. Dr. Dilys Walker, PRONTO’s co-founder and board president, presented at the conference. The translated excerpt on PartoPants™ can be viewed below.
Three Innovations that Can Save the Lives of Pregnant Mothers and their Babies
The innovations are inexpensive, effective and necessary. Only 48% of low-income pregnant women in Central America receive medical care.
Worldwide each year, 300,000 mothers lose their lives due to pregnancy-related causes, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Childbirth requires cohesive teamwork, where the priority lies in the well being of the mother and the newborn. But how can this team be prepared when staff do not have the skills to care for complicated deliveries?
The solution presented by the PRONTO International team, led by obstetrician Dr. Dilys Walker, includes the ¨PartoPants™¨, which are modified pants that are worn by a patient actress to simulate a highly realistic birth of a baby. “Our mission is to promote practice through complicated childbirth simulations in order to develop the skills, communication, and teamwork necessary for emergency care at birth,” Walker says.
PartoPants™ come with a wrist band for simulated IVs, a placenta and simulated blood, among other elements. The idea behind this concept is to practice complicated deliveries using the low-cost materials normally found in rural or small medical clinics so that, when attending a real birth with complications, staff have already practiced the appropriate protocols through simulations. “Simulation allows staff to practice, reduce errors and gain self-confidence in the face of complications during labor,” added Walker.
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