A woman presenting with a life-threatening obstetric complication is in an emergency situation requiring immediate diagnosis and management. Therefore, the main text of this manual is arranged by symptom (e.g. vaginal bleeding in early pregnancy). Because this symptom-based approach is different than most medical texts, which are arranged by disease, an indexed list of diagnoses is provided. The emphasis of the manual is on rapid assessment and decision making. The clinical action steps are based on clinical assessment, with limited reliance on laboratory or other tests that would be unavailable in many field situations, and most are possible in a variety of clinical settings (e.g. district hospital or health centre).

链接地址：https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/255760