Under Pressure: Count bicycle tire tubes among the new solutions to help mothers in low-resource settings

We've been following the MOM-CAPP device with great interest. Since we are already proponents of the NASG, how could we not be intrigued by a potentially faster/better version, a pneumatic anti-shock device, that could be locally made?

So let's first cover the definitions-- pneumatic means that the clinician pumps up the device (in this case with a bike pump) while non-pneumatic means.. no pumping involved.. just pressure from the tightness of the velcro and the ball built into the NASG which presses against the abdomen.

It occurs to me here that if our ancestors had come up with a simple pressure device to stop postpartum hemorrhage around the time they came up with the wheel we would be in a lot better shape today as a society. In any case...

We had the pleasure of talking with Mark Hauswald, and ER doctor, who along with his wife, Nancy Kerr, an obstetrician, works in Nepal on the CAPP. The CAPP, a circumferential abdominal pelvic pressure device, wraps around a woman suffering from postpartum hemorrhage. Mark's team presented multiple results at the FIGO meeting in the fall.

The current prototype MOM-CAPP was made in Nepal out of sewn bedsheet cloth and a bike pump and bicycle tire tubes. 58 nurses and auxiliary midwives were trained in the device were part of the study. 25% of them ended up using the device in a clinical emergency because they needed them and they were available. To find out the results, stay tuned for our next blog on the subject.

But we leave you with a thought: leaders in the field say again and again, we know what to do, we just need to scale it up. Well that's true in some cases, but innovation always plays a role in making is smaller, faster and cheaper. We did not know, even three years ago that this MOM-CAPP idea would work.. and now it appears, we do.