Professor Bob Pattinson is the director of the SAMRC/University of Pretoria Maternal and Infant Health Care Strategies Research Unit and previous clinical head of the department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Pretoria.  He serves on the National Committee for the Confidential Enquiries into Maternal Deaths for which he edits all the reports and served on the National Perinatal Morbidity and Mortality Committee in South Africa.  He also is responsible for the perinatal care and child health care surveys in South Africa.  He served on the WHO technical committees that developed the WHO ICD classifications of maternal near miss, maternal death and perinatal deaths.  He also served on WHO technical committees for developing the guidelines for antenatal and intrapartum care. His main research interests are in obstetrics, medical audits, health systems and effective methods of outreach.  His main research focus is on determining the most effective means of implementing new health care strategies and improving current programmes.  He led the team that developed and scaled-up the Essential Steps into Obstetric Emergencies programme. In the 12 districts, covering over 1,2 million births and 2000 maternal deaths over 6 years which were intensively evaluated, a significant overall reduction in maternal deaths of 29,5% and a 17,5% drop in direct causes of maternal deaths was recorded.  The programme has been scaled-up into all districts in South Africa. Currently he is researching ways of predicting and preventing stillbirths in pregnant women classified as having low risk pregnancies using the continuous wave doppler.

Unit Director: Prof R.C. Pattinson
Kalafong Hospital Campus
University of Pretoria
Pretoria, 0008
Tel office: 012 373 0825
Email: Robert.pattinson@up.ac.za