Home Based Life Saving Skills

One reason that the mortality rates from PPH are so high is that the women in community are often birthing at home and not recognising the signs and severity of PPH, and so don't know what to do or go for help in time. The community needs to be educated and empowered in how to respond.
Home Based Life Saving Skills is a tool for doing just this. It does not advocate birthing at home instead of going to a health facility but teaches the community to recognise symptoms, actions to take and how to refer promptly for help. It is a means for birth preparedness. As part of the training the facilitators listen to the community express what they see are issues of importance and the actions (or inactions) that have been traditionally taken. Together they work on replacing less effective actions with agreed upon actions. For every illness/complication - such as PPH, there are 6 actions that are taught through role play so that this knowledge is easily transferable to their family and neighbours. The teachings for handling PPH not only include actions they are to take at home but also how they should safely transfer the woman to a trained health worker and accompanying her so that appropriate information is given to the health professional at the health facility. There are also lessons on PPH prevention. Through HBLSS we are training lay trainers so that the knowledge is duplicated to reach the greater community. If done effectively, the whole community can be involved in caring for their women as it incorporates roles for the husbands, the mother-in-laws (or family members), neighbours and TBA's or CHW's.
The clinics in these villages should be informed of the HBLSS training so that they are aware of what to expect and will be prepared for giving prompt effective treatment.
http://forum.globalvoices.org.uk/topics/brainstorm/PPH/46