Why mothers are still dying during pregrancy - Experts

Majority of deaths during pregnancy are as a result of preventable factors, experts have said.

Mary Kamau, the Director Nursing Services at The Nairobi Hospital said lack of proper Antenatal care is one of the causes of maternal mortality in the country.

“Sometimes they die because they get what we call preeclampsia, if they are not taken good care of this can bring death to the mother,” Kamau said.

She said mortality is also recorded during birth in cases where mothers are not able to access emergency medical services when the need arises.

“Sometimes even during delivery, the baby gets tired in the body and what happens is if there is no emergency care or if she is not well taken care of while she is in the hospital then we end up losing the mother,” Kamau said.

She raised concern that a lot of mothers are still dying mostly because of lack of proper antenatal care, lack of proper follow-up and poor nutrition.

She noted that if the mother is not well taken care, the babies deplete all the nutrients from the mother hence leading to mortality.

Failure by mothers to go to the hospital during pregnancy is also a factor contributing to high mortality as doctors are not able to pick up any complications during pregnancy early enough.

“We encourage mothers at all stages to go to the nearest hospital to be helped. From the time they realise they are pregnant, they need to go to the hospital so that they are monitored and the doctors can be able to tell when the complications are setting in.”

According to TNH CEO James Nyamongo, nearly 5,000 women and girls in Kenya die annually due to pregnancy and childbirth complications.

Nyamongo said that while access to skilled birth attendance has improved from 62 per cent to about 70 per cent over the last seven years, over 80 per cent of maternal deaths are attributed to poor quality of care.

Data from the United Nations Population Fund estimates that the number of women dying of pregnancy-related causes in the country stands at 355 deaths per 100,000 live births.

The World Health Organisation on the other hand estimates that globally, maternal mortality ratio in 2020 was 223 per 100,000 live births with 70 per cent occurring in Sub-Saharan Africa.

“In Kenya, the maternal mortality ratio in 2020 was 530 per 100,000 live births. This is an 7.7 per cent improvement from the year 2000 when it was 564 per 100,000 live births,” Nyamongo said.

They were speaking during the ‘Daddy, Mommy & Baby Fair’ held at the hospital on Saturday.

The goal of the annual event is to raise awareness levels among the public on matters pregnancy, labour and childbirth.

According Nyamongo, the event attracted 145 mothers, 12 fathers, 57 babies and 36 nannies last year with the numbers this year being higher.

Unlike last year, this year’s event organised under the theme of ‘Happy Baby, Happy World’ included fathers.

The fair is an open forum that is free to all where both partners (men and women) are invited to attend.

The day is a fun-filled interactive session on pregnancy, labour and childbirth, while children get an opportunity to be attended to by specialists.

The sessions are usually led by Nairobi Hospital experts who speak about pregnancy, options in labour and childbirth, lactation, immunisation, free nanny training, nutrition for mothers and myths surrounding pregnancy and delivery.