Maternal deaths are up, as would be expected with the surge in the number of Haitian women giving birth in the Dominican Republic. Around 40% of births at public hospitals are to Haitian women.
Haitian women giving birth in the Dominican Republic accounted for 25% of maternal deaths last year, according to official statistics, Listin Diario reports. The number of Haitian women giving birth in the Dominican Republic has increased with the collapse of the already precarious sanitary system in Haiti. Most Haitians show up just to give birth, and have had little or no previous pregnancy check ups. This regular practice complicates the work of medics at public hospitals.
The Dominican Republic closed 2023 with the registration of 208 maternal deaths (related to pregnancy, childbirth or the postpartum period), placing the Maternal Death Rate (RMM) at 127 deaths per 100 thousand live births, which represents an increase of 16% in relation to 2022, which was 109 per 100 thousand, Listin Diario reports.
Of this total of deaths, 146 were Dominican mothers, for 70% of the deaths, and 25% were mothers who came from Haiti, as detailed in the bulletin corresponding to Epidemiological Week number 52, the final week of 2023.
According to the summary of the situation of maternal death and infant death in the Dominican Republic corresponding to 2023 from the Epidemiology Department of the Ministry of Public Health, the average age of maternal deaths that occurred last year was 28 years, with a range from 16 to 52 years old.
75% of these deaths were due to direct obstetric causes, such as edema, proteins in urine, hypertensive disorders in pregnancy, childbirth and are recorded from the time from the delivery of the placenta through the first few weeks after the delivery. In 36% of the deaths, the basic cause was sepsis (infection). 23% of the deaths were due to other puerperal infections in 23%, and 17% to other complications of pregnancy and childbirth.
Puerperal sepsis, or infection of the genital tract, is up 198% compared to the year 2022, when it was 8%. The report cites also respiratory problems caused 39 of the maternal deaths.
The increases in mortality are reported up 185% in the Cibao Central region, and 120% in the Enriquillo region on the border with Haiti.
The report highlights that the World Health Organization (WHO) defines maternal death (MM) as the death of a woman during the period of pregnancy and up to 42 days after childbirth or the end of pregnancy, due to any cause related to the pregnancy or aggravated by it or its management.
Regarding infant deaths (IM), the Ministry of Public Health epidemiological report indicates that during the year 2023, 3,012 deaths were recorded in children under one year of age, for an infant death rate of 18.4 per 1,000 live births, which represents a reduction 7% compared to what was reported in 2022, which was 19.8 per thousand live births.
78% of these deaths occurred in the neonatal period.
Read more in Spanish:
Listin Diario
Listin Diario
11 April 2024