2023-10-11 21:05:28
At Pumwani Maternity Hospital, Nairobi, Kenya, in October 2019. NJERI MWANGI/REUTERS
Every two minutes, a woman dies from complications of pregnancy or childbirth across the world, or around 800 deaths per day, a number that has stagnated since 2016. More than a quarter is due to “post-partum hemorrhage.” partum”: excessive bleeding (more than half a liter of blood) that occurs during childbirth or in the 24 hours following it. These deaths are often preventable.
“We know the interventions that work to prevent these deaths, but we fail to implement them,” lamented Olufemi Oladapo, director of the reproductive health department of the World Health Organization (WHO), Wednesday October 11 in Paris, announcing a WHO initiative on the subject: the definition of an agenda setting, over the period 2023-2030, priorities for action to reduce the burden of this maternal mortality. The intervention took place as part of the 24th congress of the International Federation of Obstetrics and Gynecology (FIGO), a high mass which brings together nearly 8,000 experts from all countries, from October 9 to 12.
“Of the 140 million women who give birth each year in the world, 6 to 10% experience postpartum hemorrhage, or 8.4 to 14 million women”, recalled Suellen Miller, of the University of California at San Francisco. By intervening at all stages – antenatal prevention of anemia, early detection of hemorrhage, rapid implementation of treatments – the number of maternal deaths could be reduced by 80%, according to this obstetrician-gynecologist. “I am happy that WHO has published its first roadmap on postpartum hemorrhage”, said Hadiza Galadanci of Bayero University in Nigeria. A document developed following a summit organized by the WHO in March, in Dubai, which brought together more than 130 experts.
“An absolute emergency”
Low- and middle-income countries pay the heaviest price: more than 99% of these maternal deaths are concentrated there: 70% in sub-Saharan Africa and 28% in Asia, including 15% in South Asia. Three priorities were identified by the experts: improving the supply systems for medicines and treatment materials; address chronic shortages of qualified health personnel (midwives, nurses, doctors); and strengthen training programs. A fourth issue is crucial: it involves tackling everything that hinders women’s access to care – by strengthening their rights, reducing their costs, improving means of transport, etc.
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