Officials concerned with rising maternal mortality

A century ago the death of a woman in childbirth was not an unusual occurrence. And while today modern medicine has made great strides in reducing maternal mortality, Belizean officials say we need to do more… and have been meeting this week in Belize City to figure out how.

Jacqueline Woods, Reporting
One out of every thousand women worldwide will die in childbirth. In Belize in 2004, out of a total of seven thousand eight hundred live births, five women lost their lives, but so far this year eight cases have been reported. It’s a trend that has concerned the Ministry of Health over the last three years. Equally worrying is that the mothers being affected are not the high risk groups thirty-five years and older, but the younger women in their ideal child bearing age…that is those between the ages of twenty and thirty-four years old.

Dr. Natalia Largaespada, Technical Advisor, Min. of Health
“Definitely the situation is so pressing that it is pushing us to try and bring other partners onboard to try to implement interventions in the preventative area before the women get complicated.”

The Ministry of Health’s maternal and child health technical advisor, Dr. Natalia Largaespada, says while the total number of women affected may be small the impact each death has on such a small country is great.

Dr. Natalia Largaespada
“You have disintegration of the family, you have their children dropping out of school, you have room for sexual exploitation, early use and abuse of drugs. And also if this woman was working, it has also an economic impact on the country.”

According to Dr. Largaespada there are a number of factors contributing to the deaths. Dr. Largaespada says the problem is not the lack of access to the services, but that women are not making themselves available at one of the most critical times during pregnancy.

Dr. Natalia Largaespada
“The international standard is that sixty percent of women that reach anti-natal care should reach before twelve weeks, we have that indicator in fifteen percent. The majority are reaching too late and the anti-natal care allows us to run a battery of tests, identify what problem the woman has, and try to intervene as early as possible. When they reach with thirty-eight weeks pregnancy and with a high blood pressure uncontrollable that wasn’t diagnosed previously that never received any care, then definitely it’s difficult for us.”

The three-day meeting between social service agencies and representatives of health organisations is seeking to come up with specific measures to promote safe motherhood. Jacqueline Wood for News Five.

This week’s conference was convened by the National Committee for Families and Children, PAHO, and the Ministry of Health.