title: Skilled birth attendance-lessons learnt.
abstract: To reduce the horrific maternal mortality figures that we have globally especially in resource poor countries, there was a global commitment to reduce maternal mortality by three-quarters by 2015 using 1990 as a baseline. To measure the achievement of this goal, two indicators: maternal mortality ratio and proportion of births attended by skilled attendance were selected. To ensure skilled attendance at birth for all women, the international community set a target of 80% by 2005, 85% by 2010 and 90% coverage by 2015. However, in 2008 only 65.7% of all women were attended to by a skilled attendant during pregnancy, childbirth and immediately postpartum globally with some countries having less than 20% coverage. With the global human resource crisis, achieving this target is challenging but possible. This paper provides a narrative review of the literature on the skilled birth attendance strategy identifying key challenges and lessons learnt.
authors.affiliation: Maternal and Newborn Health Unit, Child and Reproductive Health Group, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool.
authors.forename: A A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Adegoke
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: van den Broek
mesh_terms: D002983:Clinical Competence; D036861:Delivery, Obstetric / Q000193:education / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003906:Developing Countries; D005260:Female; D014943:Global Health; D006291:Health Policy; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D007391:International Cooperation; D008427:Maternal Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000600:supply & distribution; D008428:Maternal Mortality / Q000639:trends; D007744:Obstetric Labor Complications / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011181:Postnatal Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends; D011247:Pregnancy