Women's health in women's hands: a pilot study assessing the feasibility of providing women with medications to reduce postpartum hemorrhage and sepsis in rural Tanzania.

In rural Africa, deaths from childbirth are common and access to health care facilities with skilled providers is very limited. Leading causes of death for women are bleeding and infection. In this pilot study, we establish the feasibility of distributing oral medications to women in rural Tanzania to self-administer after delivery to reduce bleeding and infection. Of the 642 women provided with medications, 90% of the women took them appropriately, while the remaining 10% did not require them. We conclude that is it feasible to distribute oral medications to rural women to self-administer after delivery.