Australia is one of the safest places to give birth, yet women continue to suffer serious illness as a result of pregnancy and childbirth. A new national initiative led by the University of New South Wales (UNSW) aims to improve the understanding of rare and severe conditions in pregnancy.
The Australasian Maternity Outcomes Surveillance System (AMOSS) will be launched by the Federal Minister for Health Nicola Roxon today (Wednesday 24 June).
The Australia-first system will work with more than 150 maternity units to collect data on selected severe obstetric conditions and interventions, including eclampsia, amniotic fluid embolism, antenatal pulmonary embolism, morbid obesity, severe haemorrhage and emergency post-partum hysterectomy.
Until now, there has been no national system to investigate these conditions and their burden on the community and health sector.
AMOSS is based at the Perinatal and Reproductive Epidemiology Research Unit (PRERU) at UNSW, and is funded by a five year National Health and Medical Research Council project grant.
"These illnesses or conditions are rare. Individual maternity units need to be prepared but have little opportunity to develop expertise or an improved understanding of the conditions or their management," said Director of PRERU at UNSW, Associate Professor Elizabeth Sullivan.
"AMOSS will provide evidence-based information to give more insight into risk factors, management and possible means of prevention."