India has made significant progress over past couple of decades in reducing maternal mortality from over 400 deaths per 100,000 live births to just 88. Similarly, newborn mortality has reduced from 51 deaths per 1000 live births to 19, outpacing the global average reductions. These reductions, however, are unevenly distributed and disparities between states and districts remain. The common causes of maternal deaths are hypertensive disorders, hemorrhage and infections. For neonatal deaths, causes include pre-term related complications, low birth weight, neonatal infections, birth asphyxia and trauma. Gaps persist due to issues like inadequate infrastructure equipment and consumables, lack of trained healthcare personnel, and lack of adherence to clinical guidelines.
In addition to maternal and newborn deaths, there are close to 200,000 deaths annually in India due other time-critical emergencies like cardiac arrest, stroke, sepsis, drowning, road traffic accidents and snake bites. A large proportion of these deaths, or subsequent disabilities, are preventable but continue to occur due to fragmented and fragile healthcare systems spanning community, pre-hospital, facility-based, and rehabilitation care. These kinds of emergencies represent a major and growing burden, underscoring the urgent need for system-wide strengthening of emergency and trauma care.
We aim to address the critical healthcare challenges in India by strengthening healthcare education and services through simulation as a modality for teaching, learning and quality improvement. With partners, through partnership-projects, we work to equip more healthcare workers with the tools, competence and confidence to provide high-quality, life-saving care.
Our work spans the length and breadth of India, a country with around 1.48billion people, and considering the issues that face the healthcare system, that means our potential for helping save lives is vast. We focus on making tangible, lasting impact on communities by working strategically with partners, which has allowed us to reach over 300,000 healthcare workers to date.
The project
The project spans over four states of India Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar. The project is funded by Gates Foundation and Laerdal is collaborating with Jhpiego specifically for mentoring of Midwifery Educators. We are working towards preparing more than fifty midwifery educators to confidently teach, mentor and assess future midwives.
The project
WHO’s Basic Emergency Care Course (BEC) emphasizes the recognition and initial management of a wide range of conditions (injuries, infections, noncommunicable diseases, including mental health conditions, and acute complications of pregnancy and childbirth) across the life course. In partnership with WHO, and other members of Acute Care Action Network in India, this project will see the scale up of the BEC course in accordance with national priorities.
Key alliance forces of the WECAN Network.
The project
The Safer Births Bundle of Care program focuses on empowering health workers through continuous, simulation‑based training with specially designed simulators; improving labor and emergency management with innovative clinical tools; using real‑time data to drive quality improvement; and a focus on strong mentorship to ensure sustainability over time. This program has demonstrated exceptional reductions in maternal and newborn mortality in other countries – and that is why the approach is being integrated into projects in India, including this one in the Chhatarpur district.
UNFPA India, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Jodhpur, Indian Institute of Health & Family Welfare, Kolkata, Abbott Healthcare.
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Teaming up with UNFPA for training alternative birthing positions in India
While traditional birthing positions are in widespread use, the benefits of giving birth in alternative birthing positions include improving maternal outcomes, reducing morbidity, and promoting respectful care.
Partner Q&A: Dr Shailesh Shetty Shibaroor
Explore the value of simulation training from an Indian perspective with Emergency Medicine expert, Dr Shailesh Shetty, including his helpful tips for conducting effective debriefing for better learning outcomes.
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Director of Impact & Healthcare Education, India
Program Associate, India
Implementation Specialist, India
Implementation Specialist, India
Consultant, India
Consultant, India
