WUNRN
Direct Link to Research Document:
Transition to skilled birth attendance: Is there a future role for
trained traditional birth attendants? |
Author: Lynn M. Sibley, Theresa Ann
Sipe |
|
A brief history of training of traditional birth attendants (TBAs), summary
of evidence for effectiveness of TBA training, and consideration of the future
role of trained TBAs in an environment that emphasizes transition to
skilled birth attendance are provided. Evidence of the effectiveness of TBA
training, based on 60 studies and standard meta-analytic procedures, includes
moderate-to-large improvements in behaviours of TBAs relating to selected
intrapartum and postnatal care practices, small significant increases in women’s
use of antenatal care and emergency obstetric care, and small significant
decreases in perinatal mortality and neonatal mortality due to birth
asphyxia and pneumonia. Such findings are consistent with the historical focus
of TBA training on extending the reach of primary healthcare and a few
programmes that have included home-based management of complications of births
and the newborns, such as birth asphyxia and pneumonia. Evidence suggests
that, in settings characterized by high mortality and weak health systems,
trained TBAs can contribute to the Millennium Development Goal 4—a two-thirds
reduction in the rate of mortality of children aged less than 14 years by
2015—through participation in key evidence-based interventions.
Journal
of Health, Population and Nutrition,
24(4):472-478
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