Dr Jamila Al Abri and Dr Mary McCauley from the LSTM’s Centre for Maternal and NewbornHealth (CMNH) have recently returned from Muscat, Oman where they delivered three days of training workshop for the implementation of a national review of severe maternal morbidity known as maternal near-miss (MNM).
Dr Jamila Al-Abri, an Obstetrician and Gynaecologist is currently a PhD student with the CMNH at LSTM with Professor Nynke van den Broek and Dr Charles Ameh as supervisors. Her PhD project aims to implement a national review of Maternal Near Miss “MNM” in Oman to identify underlying cause and contributory factors and use this approach to assess the quality of care. The project is funded by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and Ministry of Health in Oman.
Dr Jamila Al Abri is from Oman, a high income country with a well-established maternal deaths review system and a maternal mortality ratio (MMR) of 17.5 per 100,000 livebirths. Although the number of maternal deaths are relatively low in Oman, most of these deaths are preventable and as part of an effort to further decrease maternal deaths, the Ministry of Health in Oman has commissioned Dr Jamila Al Abri to conduct a national review of all cases MNM for one year in order to improve the quality of maternal care in Oman.
Currently, there is ongoing debate in the literature about the identification criteria for MNM. In light of this Dr Jamila Al Abri’s study will test a new approach to identify MNM cases based on WHO application of International Classification of Diseases version 10 for Maternal Mortality (ICD-10 MM) to deaths during and after pregnancy.
The recent three days training workshop was attended by Senior Consultant Obstetricians and Gynaecologists from twenty three hospitals, Head of Woman Health Sections and members of both the National and Regional Maternal Mortality Committee from all eleven governorates in Oman. The training workshop focused on strengthening the skills of the participants on reviewing MNM cases to assess the quality of care and formulate lessons learned to prevent similar events in the future.
Dr Said Al Lamki, the Chairman of the National Maternal Mortality Committee in Oman, said: “The Ministry of Health are dedicated to improving the quality of care women receive at our hospitals. Reviewing MNM cases will complement the current maternal deaths review system and will provide more information to strengthen the maternity service”.
Head of CMNH, Professor Nynke van den Broek, said: “CMNH are delighted to be working in partnership with the Ministry of Health in Oman to support the national implementation of MNM. I am very impressed by the leadership shown by the members of staff from the Ministry of Health and would like to congratulate Dr Jamila Al Abri on the successful delivery of the training workshop”.
CMNH at LSTM specialise in high quality research, teaching and technical assistance and are currently working in partnerships with governments in many low and middle income countries to improve the availability and quality of healthcare for mothers and babies, thereby contributing to the global reduction in maternal and newborn mortality and morbidity and improvement in quality of life.