Helicopter retrieval program in Nepal

The helicopter retrieval program in Nepal transports pregnant women to hospital in childbirth emergencies.

Transcript

00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]

00:03 [PHONE RINGING]

00:06 Hello?

00:07 Hello, Audrey?

00:08 [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]

00:14 My name's Roger Smith.

00:16 I'm part of a team that's been examining ways

00:19 to reduce maternal mortality in low and middle income

00:24 countries.

00:26 We've been working in Nepal, where the difficult mountainous

00:31 terrain poses special challenges to the pregnant woman

00:36 with an emergency event.

00:39 [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]

00:42 [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]

00:58 We've shown that repurposing military helicopters

01:02 can reduce maternal mortality substantially.

01:06 [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]

01:11 [MUSIC PLAYING]

01:13 This is a 17-year-old girl being air

01:16 retrieved from the remote Baglum district

01:19 on 10th September, 2020.

01:22 She had been in prolonged labor for two days

01:25 and cannot be managed at her local health center.

01:29 She had severe labor pains and was close to death

01:32 before her rescue.

01:33 Unfortunately, the baby didn't survive.

01:36 [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]

01:39 [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]

01:56 The lessons on reducing maternal mortality in Nepal

02:00 with helicopter retrievals might well

02:03 be able to be applied in other low and middle income

02:06 countries that face similar problems.