Description

Primary postpartum hemorrhage, characterized as excessive blood loss within 24 hours following delivery, is the leading cause of maternal death worldwide. In some cases, it could take less than 10 minutes for a woman to bleed to death. Currently a series of intervention measures are taken to treat postpartum hemorrhage including administration of drugs, uterine massage, and condom tamponade. However, not all methods are completely effective and without disadvantages. Over the past four years an average of 32 cases of postpartum hemorrhage have occurred each month at Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra, Ghana. The goal of this project is to design a device to treat primary postpartum hemorrhage due to cases of uterine atony in low-resource settings. Uterine atony, which is the failure of the uterus to contract, accounts for 80-90% of postpartum hemorrhage cases. The design should be effective at reducing blood loss after a cesarean section or a vaginal delivery.