Belize City, 31 October 2011 - As a result of the recent revised Obstetric Care Protocols, a series of training sessions have been conducted countrywide involving nurses, midwives and doctors with the use of basic guidelines in regards to obstetric care. These protocols were developed to be used at the primary and secondary level of care in Belize.
  
Coordinated by the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization and the Ministry of Health, over 150 participants from the various health regions participated. At the end of each session, participants indicated that these revised protocols will definitely help them to better manage the health services delivery. The sessions were facilitated by local gynaecoobstetricians from public and private health facilities.

The obstetric protocols are designed to standardize medical care, to raise quality of care, to reduce several kinds of risk (patient, healthcare provider, medical insurers and health plans) and to achieve the best balance between cost and medical parameters such as effectiveness, specificity, sensitivity, and resoluteness.

According to Dr. Giovanni Solorzano, Consultant, PAHO/WHO Belize, these training guidelines were adapted to Belize from international protocols. All these, are in an effort to sustain the zero maternal deaths in Belize.

The implementation of the protocols will be monitored and evaluated by Dr. Natalia Largaespada, Technical Advisor, Ministry of Health.