BU Research Blog

Congratulations to Preeti Mahato in the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH) on the publication of a paper based on her Ph.D. research.  Her paper ‘Birthing centres in Nepal: Recent developments, obstacles and opportunities’ can be found in the June 2016 edition of the Journal of Asian Midwives (JAM) [1].  All articles in JAM are Open Access to ensure midwives and researchers in the poorest parts of Asia can freely access the scientific articles in the journal.

This literature review was appraised the relevant literature on birthing centres in Nepal, South Asia, and other similar settings.  Preeti and her co-authors concluded that birthing centres in Nepal have the potential to improve both (a) the institutional delivery rate; and (b) the proportion of births that benefit from the presence of a skilled birth attendant (SBA). However, accessibility, socio-demographic characteristics, and cultural factors act as barriers to pregnant women attending birthing centres and hospital facilities.

Preeti’s Ph.D. is supervised by Dr. Catherine Angell and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen in CMMPH and Prof. Padam Simkhada at Liverpool John Moores University.  Padam is also Visiting Faculty at the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences (FHSS).

Reference:

1. Mahato, P., van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P., Angell, C. (2016) Birthing centres in Nepal: Recent developments, obstacles and opportunities, Journal of Asian Midwives 3(1): 17-30.