Objective: To describe the clinical, therapeutic and outcome aspects of emergency obstetric care at the University Hospital of Parakou in Benin. Patients and methods: This was a descriptive and analytical cross-sectional study with prospective data collection. It covered a period of 6 months (14 January to 14 July 2013) and involved 507 patients. Results: The intake frequency of obstetrics emergencies was 31.8%. The mean age of patients was 26.7 ± 6.2 years, ranging from 15 to 45 years. The admission average time was 32 ± 27.8 hours. The mean gravidity was 3.21 ± 2.16 and the mean parity was 2.00 ± 2.13. The major identified emergency obstetrics groups were: dystocia (32.1%), hemorrhagic emergencies (21.7%), hypertensive emergencies (16.4%), fetal hypoxia (15.2%), the infectious emergencies (12.4%) and anemia on pregnancy (2.2%). The average hospital stay was 4.0 ± 3.4 days with a range of 1 to 23 days. Maternal mortality was 0.4%. Fetal mortality was 9.2% and was related to the occurrence of antepartum hemorrhage (p = 0.001), poor monitoring of antenatal care (p = 0.001) in obstructed labor (p = 0.001), and the presence meconium in the amniotic fluid (p = 0.001). Conclusion: Obstetrics emergencies are common in the maternity of the University Hospital of Parakou. Reducing the morbidity and mortality associated with obstetric emergencies happen by improving the quality of care for the education of patients to consult early to improving the technical platform and the introduction of insurance universal health
