Prevent Excess Neonatal and Maternal Morbidity and Mortality

Provide Clean Delivery Kits for Use by Mothers or Birth Attendants to Promote Clean Home Deliveries

A refugee population will include women who are in the later stages of pregnancy, and who will therefore deliver within the initial phase. Simple delivery kits for home use should be made available for women in the late stages of pregnancy. These are very simple kits that the women, themselves, or traditional birth attendants (TBAs) can use. They can be made up on site and include: one sheet of plastic, two pieces of string, one clean razor blade and one bar of soap. UNFPA also supplies this kit.

A formula, based upon the Crude Birth Rate (CBR), is used to calculate the supplies and services required. With a CBR of three to five per cent per year, there would be some 75-125 births in a three-month period in a population of 10,000. From this, a calculation can be made as to how many kits should be ordered.

Provide Midwife Delivery Kits (UNICEF or equivalent) to Facilitate Clean and Safe Deliveries at the Health Facility

In the early phase of an emergency, births will often take place outside the health facility with- out the assistance of trained health personnel. Approximately 15 per cent of births will involve some complications. Complicated births should be referred to the health centre. The supplementary unit of the New Emergency Health Kit 98 (NEHK-98) has all the materials needed to ensure safe and clean normal deliveries. Many obstetric emergencies can be managed with the equipment, supplies and drugs contained in the NEHK-98. Obstetric complications that cannot be managed at the health centre should be stabilised before transfer to the referral hospital.

Initiate the Establishment of a Referral System to Manage Obstetric Emergencies

Approximately three to seven per cent of deliveries will require Caesarean section. Additional obstetric emergencies may need to be referred to a hospital that is capable of performing comprehensive essential emergency obstetric care. (Refer to Chapters Three and Seven for information on pregnancy and delivery complications.)

As soon as the situation permits, a referral system that manages obstetric complications must be available for use by the refugee population 24 hours a day. Where feasible, a host-country referral facility should be used and supported to meet the needs of refugees. If this is not feasible because of distance or the inability of the host-country facility to meet the increased demand, then an appropriate refugee-specific referral facility should be provided. In either case, it will be necessary to coordinate with host-country authorities concerning the policies, procedures and practices to be followed within the referral facility. The protocols of the host country should be followed, although some variation may have to be negotiated. Be sure there is sufficient transport, qualified staff and materials to cope with the extra demands.