VOA常速英语:研究人员开发低价药救助产后大出血女性

Severe bleeding, known as postpartum hemorrhage, or PPH, is the leading cause of maternal death worldwide,killing more than 100,000 women every year.For those who survive, it is a painful and traumatic experience.

“I was bleeding, they were inciting something in me, even I was dying, they should give me blood.Now I want to die, can’t live, I want to die, please let me…”

The world’s poorest countries, are the worst hit, especially in Africa and the Indian sub-continent.

But there is new hope the death can be significantly reduced.In the 1960s, Japanese researchers developed a drug called tranexamic acid, which works by stopping blood clots from breaking down.But they could not persuade doctors to carry out the trial of the drug for treating postpartum hemorrhage.

The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine has done just that, in a trial involving 20,000 women in 21 countries.

“And the really good news is it reduces the risk of bleeding by about a third.”

The research has found no side effects for either mothers or babies.They want it rapidly rolled out as a frontline treatment for PPH across the world.

If a drug can prevent hysterectomies, a drug can prevent death, a drug can minimize the amount of blood we need to give,then that is a good thing, all over the world."

But there are challenges to getting the drug where it is needed, first, the doctors must know about it.

We want everyone to hear about the results, but then, we actually, you know, there are the nitty-gritty issues.Is the treatment available in the hospital? Do doctors and midwives know how to use it?It’s heat stable, so it does not have to be kept in the fridge.It’s relatively inexpensive —you know, it’s about a dollar.And no child should grow up without a mother for lack of a treatment that costs a dollar."

In the trial, tranexamic acid was given via a drip.Researchers say the next step is to find an easier wayto administer the drug so it can be used in clinics and rural settings around the world.

Henry Ridgwell, for VOA news, London.