Background
Pre-eclampsia is a pregnancy disorder usually associated with high blood pressure and protein in the urine. If left untreated, it can develop into eclampsia, which causes the pregnant woman to suffer from seizures. At Shashemene Hospital in central Ethiopia, 33% of the maternal deaths between September 2007 and October 2008 were caused by eclampsia. Although research has shown that magnesium sulfate is the most effective treatment to prevent these deadly seizures, it has never been used in Shashemene Hospital. Instead, diazepam has been the only drug available to treat eclampsia, which is not ideal as it affects the foetus and can cause neonatal depression and jaundice.

About the project
This project was created to introduce the use of magnesium sulphate to treat severe pre-eclampsia and eclampsia in Shashemene Hospital. The project team arranged two trainings for the hospital staff to improve their skills and knowledge on the use of magnesium sulphate. The hospital also purchased sufficient amounts of the drug in order for the medical staff to treat all patients with severe pre-eclampsia and eclampsia going forward.

Results
By the end of the two-month project implementation, 157 women gave birth at the hospital. Six of these women suffered from severe pre-eclampsia or eclampsia and four of them were treated with magnesium sulphate. The remaining two were treated with diazepam, as no one from the project team was there to supervise the staff at the time. 25 health care providers at Shashemene Hospital participated in the trainings, which is 76% of the staff working at the department for obstetrics and gynaecology. Since the end of the project, the use of magnesium sulphate has been successfully implemented as a routine at the hospital and the project’s results have influenced the development of Ethiopia’s national management guidelines on magnesium sulphate.

Year: 2008/2009