A woman dies every two minutes in the world for complications in pregnancy or childbirth

Some 287,000 women every year, or one every two minutes, still die in the world for complications during childbirth or pregnancy, alerts a study published by the World Health Organization (WHO) that affects the lack of access of many mothers to treatments to save their lives.

EFE

The report, with data from 2020 and published in the specialized magazine Lancet Global Health, details that 27 % of those annual deaths (around 80,000) are due to bleeding, the main direct cause of death, while 16 % (50,000) are caused by hypertension disorders such as preeclampsia.

In addition, almost one in four deaths occur in women whose pregnancy or childbirth is complicated due to previous conditions of the patient such as HIV/AIDS, malaria, anemias or diabetes, the study stands out, first that updates the causes of maternal death since 2015.

«These conditions have often been previously diagnosed or treated and are only discovered with the appearance of serious complications,» says WHO.

Other direct causes of death in childbirth or pregnancy include sepsis and various infections, pulmonary embolia, complications of spontaneous or sometimes induced abortions in unsafe conditions, as well as adverse reactions to anesthesia or injuries during childbirth.

According to WHO, the report demonstrates the need to strengthen prenatal services in order to detect possible risks, obstetrics capable of managing emergencies such as bleeding or embolism during childbirth, and postnatal care networks.

«Many deaths occur during childbirth or shortly after this, so that moment is a critical window to save lives,» says the study, warning that around a third of women, especially in low -income countries, do not receive postnatal checks in the first days after birth.

The authors of the study also call attention to maternal health fields that are not yet properly studied, such as the phenomenon of suicide between women during or after pregnancy (only twelve countries provide data) or mortality between mothers not immediately after childbirth, but in the year after it.

«After childbirth, many women have trouble accessing a care service that follows them, also in the matter of mental health,» says WHO.