London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

A woman bleeds to death after childbirth approximately every six minutes. The WOMAN trial, coordinated by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, showed that a simple and inexpensive drug called tranexamic acid reduced the number of women dying from blood loss by a third. Further research highlighted the need for women to be treated with the drug within minutes for maximum benefit.

Inspired by this, and by his own experiences working as a consultant obstetrician at NHS Fife, Dr Graham Tydeman created the Blood Clock art installation to highlight the devastating scale of severe bleeding after childbirth (postpartum haemorrhage) and the need for urgent treatment.

The brass and clear acrylic Blood Clock is a mechanical sculpture using materials gathered from maternity wards or which strike a chord with the issue. Fake blood fills newborn baby cots discarded by a maternity hospital and once every six minutes it tips out 2.5 litres of blood representing the death of yet another woman. The clock is designed to illustrate the problem of postpartum haemorrhage in a striking and thought provoking way, both telling the time and counting deaths.

The Blood Clock will be accessible to the public between 10am and 4pm on weekdays (excluding bank holidays and between 18 December 2017 and 2 January 2018).

A video describing how the clock was made and more about the sculptor can be seen here.

If you have any questions about the Blood Clock please contact: TheWomanTrial@lshtm.ac.uk.