Title: Maternal health and child survival: opportunities to protect both women and children from the adverse consequences of reproductive tract infections.

POPLINE Document Number: 120065

Author(s):

Schulz KF
Schulte JM
Berman SM

Source citation:

In: Reproductive tract infections: global impact and priorities for women's reproductive health, edited by Adrienne Germain, King K. Holmes, Peter Piot, Judith N. Wasserheit. New York, New York, Plenum Press, 1992. :145-82. (Reproductive Biology)

Abstract:

Although international donor agencies place an emphasis on infectious diseases, problems caused by reproductive tract infections (RTIs) during pregnancy are not only at least as serious as those caused by immunizable diseases, but interventions are often more cost-effective. To avert one case of gonorrhea and to avert one adverse outcome associated with syphilis during pregnancy would cost about US $1.40 and $12,00, respectively, compared with $40-150 to prevent an immunizable disease. In a typical developing country, an intervention for gonorrhea would cost about $65,000 for 1 million births and would avert 47,000 cases of gonorrhea. An intervention to test and treat for syphilis during pregnancy would cost about $900,000 for 1.5 million pregnancies and avert 75,000 adverse outcomes. Urged is a reallocation of resources toward RTIs and research into the most cost-effective approaches to syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia, herpes. In addition, research aimed at one or more specific organisms should be conducted to assess the efficacy of antibiotic treatment and the role of genital infections in ascending intrapartum infections and prematurity. A simulation model should be developed that could be used to estimate the effects of different prevention strategies on pregnancy outcome and child survival.

Keywords:

Developing Countries
Literature Review
Reproductive Tract Infections
Sexually Transmitted Disease Prevention
Cost Effectiveness
Pregnancy
Congenital Abnormalities
Infant Mortality
Abortion, Spontaneous
Mother-to-Child Transmission
Premature Birth
Low Birth Weight
Gonorrhea
Syphilis
Chlamydia
Herpes Genitalis
Prevention and Control
Infections
Diseases
Sexually Transmitted Diseases
Evaluation Indexes
Quantitative Evaluation
Evaluation
Reproduction
Neonatal Diseases and Abnormalities
Mortality
Population Dynamics
Demographic Factors
Population
Pregnancy Complications
Pregnancy Outcomes
Birth Weight
Body Weight
Physiology
Biology