Care of Pregnant Women: Experience from a Maternity-Specific Ebola Isolation Unit in Sierra Leone.

Abstract

The Ebola virus disease epidemic was devastating to the West African region, particularly for pregnant women. Prior to the epidemic, maternal mortality in this region was among the highest in the world. Throughout the region, screening of patients with Ebola was difficult, as the symptoms of malaria or typhoid mimicked Ebola, but even more difficult for pregnant women, because of the large overlap between Ebola symptoms and pregnancy-related complications. In November 2014, the world's first maternity-specific isolation and screening system, to our knowledge, was created at the Princess Christian Maternity Hospital in Freetown to meet the emergent needs of the population of pregnant women during the epidemic. Starting in December 2014 through June 2016, in collaboration with hospital leadership and the Ministry of Health and Sanitation, Partners In Health supported Princess Christian Maternity Hospital in creating a safer health care environment with the shared goal of improving safety and health outcomes and of addressing the unique needs of pregnant women, by focusing on improving 4 key areas: 1) screening, 2) isolation, 3) laboratory diagnostics, and 4) clinical service delivery in isolation, including human resource management and training. The screening guidelines were adapted to include maternal health care considerations, a new screening area was constructed, the laboratory result turnaround time was reduced, and the isolation unit was improved to enhance safety and care delivery. Human resources were supported with additional staff hired and trainings on infection prevention and control, overall resulting in better preparing Princess Christian Maternity Hospital to provide care for pregnant women during outbreaks. The authors' experience at Princess Christian Maternity Hospital provides a model of screening, isolation, and care specifically for maternity patients, and directly addresses infection risk and mortality. The recommendations we provide can be used in future outbreaks.