This scientist created a drug that can save millions of women
After World War II, in what was called the postwar period, Japan experienced a time of turmoil both socially, politically and economically. In this new society, women had no voice or vote about their future, their sentimental life or their studies. However, a scientist managed to break the barriers of prejudice and stand out with the creation of a drug that changed the lives of hundreds of thousands of women of its time and continues to speak today.
Utako Okamoto, a Japanese scientist who in spite of the impediments managed to realize its race in the field of the Sciences was responsible for discovering half a century ago the existence of tranexamic acid.
Used to curb the major bleeding, mainly those suffered by women after giving birth, this drug could save more than 100,000 women a year. This is the number of women who lose their lives after giving birth, exactly, one woman every 6 minutes.
When Utako Okamoto presented this drug, because of her status as a scientific woman, in the context of a Japanese submerged in poverty and abandonment of war, doctors paid little attention to the properties of a tranexamic acid. The great discovery of this scientist was to stop at the hands of pharmacists who used it for years to treat minor haemorrhages.
However, a recent study by the London School of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene promises to place this drug where it should be: in hospitals, more precisely in maternity wards. Researchers who conducted the study showed that the use of this drug could reduce the chances of a woman to bleed after childbirth by a third.
This drug not only promises to save the lives of 100,000 women a year but also ensures a total absence of sequelae and damage after use.
To top it off, its price is really low so that it could be accessible to low-income women around the globe. Thanks to these researchers from London, it seems that one year after his death Utako Okamoto will finally receive the credit he deserves for his discovery, as the World Health Organization itself has communicated its interest in deepening its knowledge regarding postpartum haemorrhages And investigate the benefits of tranexamic acid.