Introduction:

Excessive bleeding after childbirth still kills around 70,000 mothers a year, but a new heat-resistant drug could now save “thousands of women’s lives” in low- and middle-income countries, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday.

Currently, oxytocin is the first-choice medication used to prevent potentially fatal bleeding, but it must be kept cold — unlike the new drug, carbetocin.

It’s effective for years even when stored at 30° Celsius and in highly humid locations, WHO said in a statement, citing a study it helped to lead and whose results have been published in the US-based New England Journal of Medicine.

In an interview with Daniel Johnson, WHO spokesperson Gregory Hartl explains why the development is a potential “game-changer” for women’s health.