PRE-EMPT (PRE-eclampsia-Eclampsia Monitoring, Prevention and Treatment): A low and middle income country initiative to reduce the global burden of maternal, fetal and infant death and disease related to pre-eclampsia

摘要

Pre-eclampsia is associated with an unacceptable burden of death (maternal, fetal and neonatal), disability and health crises throughout the world [1]. However, it is in low and middle income countries (LMICs) that women, their families and their communities bear a disproportionate risk for developing the life-ending, life-threatening, and life-altering complications of pre-eclampsia; it is believed that over 99% of the estimated 70-80,000 annual maternal and 500,000 annual perinatal pre-eclampsia-re-lated deaths occur in LMICs [1]. Many of these complications arise in women who never reach the formal health care system, or who arrive too late to be saved. This disparity in outcomes between women in high income countries and those in LMICs represents a social equity issue [2].