Background Lack of skills on how to diagnose and manage obstetric emergencies contribute to substandard institutional care and preventable maternal deaths in Brazil. Simulation-based obstetric emergency team training can reduce adverse maternal outcomes. However, this type of training is expensive and not widely available, especially in low resource settings. We present the experience of a private-public partnership that offered a two-day obstetric emergency simulation-training course to hundreds of Brazilian professionals working in the public sector. We also present participants´ short-term learning outcomes (Kirkpatrick’s level 2) and satisfaction (Kirkpatrick’s level 1). Methods This was a non-experimental before-and-after study. The free 16-h course was held over a 14 months period in a large private hospital’s simulation center using multidisciplinary scenario and model-based training. The training sessions consisted of four (4-h) modules on pre-eclampsia/eclampsia, hemorrhage, sepsis and resuscitation. An anonymous questionnaire collected participants´ satisfaction at the end of each module. Learning outcomes were assessed by comparing differences in participants´ pre- versus immediate post-course test scores. Wilcoxon, Kruskal-Wallis and Friedman tests were used for statistical analyses. P < 0.05 was considered significant. Results 340 professionals (117 doctors, 179 registered nurses-RN and 44 licensed practical nurses-LPN) working in 33 public Brazilian hospitals were trained. There was a significant increase in post-course test scores in all four modules. On average, scores increased 55% in the hypertension and 65–69% in the hemorrhage, sepsis and resuscitation modules ( p = 0.019). Knowledge acquisition of RN and LPN was similar in the hypertension, hemorrhage and sepsis modules and significantly higher than doctors´ ( p < 0.05). On a 0 to 10 scale, mean overall satisfaction ranged from 9.6 (for the hypertension module) to 9.8 (for the resuscitation module). Conclusions This successful experience of a private-public partnership to offer obstetric emergency simulation training required strategic organization and a strong commitment from both sides. This promising private-public partnership model could be replicated in similar settings. The training course obtained high satisfaction scores and significantly improved the knowledge of public-sector health professionals on how to manage the main causes of maternal mortality.