6 Dec 2016

New training aims to reduce maternal deaths in the Pacific

From , 4:04 pm on 6 December 2016

Everyday three women die giving birth in the Pacific.

But a new training programme hopes to help change that.

The Pacific Society for Reproductive Health launched a training manual last year and is this year training doctors and midwives from across the region in emergency care.

A New Zealand-based obstetrician and gynaecologist, Sharron Bolitho, recently travelled to Kiribati to help with training there.

She told Koroi Hawkins she witnessed the extremely difficult circumstances in which midwives and doctors operate.

Dr Sharron Bolitho (center) with participants of the Pacific Emergency Maternal and Neonatal Training (PEMNet) in Kiribati. November 2016

Dr Sharron Bolitho (center) with participants of the Pacific Emergency Maternal and Neonatal Training (PEMNet) in Kiribati. November 2016 Photo: RNZI/Courtesy of Dr Sharron Bolitho