The Role of Portable Ultrasound in a Global Setting

Hannah Anderson-Knight, Frith

Abstract

Approximately 289,000 women worldwide die each year during pregnancy or childbirth as a result of preventable conditions. Early detection of many of these conditions would facilitate timely management. Ultrasound can provide detailed information on fetal wellbeing and maternal conditions thus, identifying high risk pregnancies and enabling decisions regarding place and mode of birth. Lower cost, easy to use portable devices, accompanied by basic training programmes, could impact on maternal and fetal mortality and morbidity in low resource settings, where ultrasound use is currently limited.