Therefore, primary care physicians sometimes view
mid-level providers as competitors rather than allies and partners.
Keywords: maternal mortality, community-based programmes and interventions,
mid-level providers, vital statistics, verbal autopsy, Ethiopia
THE papers in this journal issue are about innovative efforts to increase access to skilled reproductive health care, particularly in resource-poor settings, either 1) where physicians are in short supply, or 2) when physicians are not needed because the skills involved in a procedure have been simplified to the point where trained
mid-level providers can carry them out instead.
This paper reviews the literature on this topic and documents existing programmes for task shifting anaesthesia services to
mid-level providers in South Asia to increase access to emergency obstetric care and reduce maternal mortality.
Ask ff the group shares responsibility on derisions such as hiring a new physician or
mid-level provider, or installing a $50,000 phone system.