Publication Date
This manual is written for midwives and doctors at the district hospital who are responsible for the care of women with complications of pregnancy, childbirth or the immediate postpartum period including immediate problems of the newborn. The emphasis of the manual is on rapid assessment and decision making. The clinical action steps are based on clinical assessment with limited reliance on laboratory or other tests and most are possible in a variety of clinical settings (eg district hospital or health centre). The manual is arranged by symptoms (eg vaginal bleeding in early pregnancy). Because this symptom-based approach is different than most medical texts which are arranged by disease, a corresponding diagnosis table is provided. Links have been used extensively to facilitate navigation between symptoms and diagnosis. Cross-cutting issues like malaria and pregnancy are easy to locate through the index