Pakistan Must Make Lifesaving Medicines for Postpa...

Summary

• (AN urgent appeal to strengthen access to lifesaving uterotonics in the month of October when world postpartum partum haemorrhage day is celebrated ) The purpose of this editorial is simple: to urge Pakistan’s health authorities to ensure the timely availability and affordability of essential medicines used to prevent and control postpartum haemorrhage (PPH).
• On World Postpartum Haemorrhage Day, the message for Pakistan should therefore be unequivocal.
• Pakistan should ensure uninterrupted access to quality-assured oxytocin, facilitate appropriate availability of heat-stable carbetocin, and restore reliable access to ergometrine where clinically appropriate, alongside tranexamic acid and other essential components of modern PPH management.

AI Generated Summary

(AN urgent appeal to strengthen access to lifesaving uterotonics in the month of October when world postpartum partum haemorrhage day is celebrated )

The purpose of this editorial is simple: to urge Pakistan’s health authorities to ensure the timely availability and affordability of essential medicines used to prevent and control postpartum haemorrhage (PPH). A woman should not lose her life after childbirth because a proven lifesaving medicine is unavailable when she needs it most.

5 October is observed as World Postpartum Haemorrhage Day, drawing attention to one of the most immediate and preventable threats to maternal survival. For Pakistan, this issue deserves particular urgency.

According to the Pakistan Maternal Mortality Survey 2019, obstetric haemorrhage accounted for 41 per cent of maternal deaths, making it the leading recorded cause. The survey estimated Pakistan’s maternal mortality ratio at 186 deaths per 100,000 live births during 2017–19. Although more recent WHO estimates show improvement, with the maternal mortality ratio estimated at 155 per 100,000 live births in 2023, Pakistan remains well above the global target of fewer than 70 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births by 2030.

These figures represent mothers, families and communities — and behind them lies a health-system burden that is rarely fully measured.

A major postpartum haemorrhage can rapidly consume hospital resources. Patients may require large quantities of blood and blood products, emergency surgery, anaesthesia, intensive-care admission, prolonged hospitalisation and costly supportive treatment. Operating theatres, specialist manpower, nursing services, ambulances and blood banks are placed under additional pressure.