Abstract
Maternal mortality has been a health concern for many developing countries. The study undertook a comprehensive maternal mortality audit at the Wa Regional Hospital in order to discover the trends and causes of maternal mortality at the hospital, and suggest ways of improving the situation. The study involved a retrospective examination of maternal mortality cases from January 1, 2005 to December 31, 2010. It included all pregnancy related deaths at the hospital within this period. A gynecologist and midwives served as key informants who provided primary data to augment the secondary data collected. Results showed a total of 73 maternal deaths occurred out of 14027 live births, giving a maternal mortality ratio of 520.4 per 100,000 live births. The yearly maternal mortality ratios saw an undulating scenario. On the specific causes of death, direct causes accounted for 60%, while indirect causes were 40%. Medically, haemorrhage (19%), Eclampsia (15%), Sepsis (11%), abortion related difficulties (8%) and obstructed labour (7%) were the main causes of mortality. Indirect causes include malaria, aneamia, sickle cell, HIV-Aids and TB. The trends of maternal mortality in the Upper West Regional Hospital over the period have seen a decline, but the decline is not significant enough. The number of women still dying from trying to bring life is unacceptably high. Key recommendations include the need to: improve emergency obstetric care by ensuring that there are enough personnel, logistics and facilities to attend to women who are in labour, especially 12 hours prior to delivery and after delivery.
Highlights
According to Senah (2003), maternal mortality was given little attention until the late 1980s when Rasenfield Allan and Deborah Maine drew the attention of the world to that tragedy with their ground breaking article: Maternal Mortality, a neglected tragedy: where is the M in MCH? Since there have been efforts from world bodies such as the United Nations (UN), Non-governmental organizations, philanthropists, research institutions and individual researchers to find answers to the question of why women “are allowed to die”
In a similar study conducted by Gumanga et al, (2011) at the Tamale Teaching Hospital, over a 5 year period, that is, from 2006-2010, the maternal mortality ratio was 1018.7, per 100,000 live births, or a total of 280 deaths
Even though the trends of maternal mortality in the Upper West Regional Hospital over the period have seen a decline, the decline is not rapid or steep enough to be able to meet the targets of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 5
Summary
F. T Sai, “No nation sends its troops to war without guaranteeing their safe return, for generations, men have been sending women to war to replenish the human stock without guaranteeing their safe return” Sai (n.d). The above quotation sums up the approach of many a society and country towards addressing the tragic event of maternal mortality for a greater part of human history. Some researchers prefer using the term neglected tragedy to describe the seriousness of maternal mortality and the attitude of leadership and society in tackling it (Senah, 2003). According to Senah (2003), maternal mortality was given little attention until the late 1980s when Rasenfield Allan and Deborah Maine drew the attention of the world to that tragedy with their ground breaking article: Maternal Mortality, a neglected tragedy: where is the M in MCH? If there has ever been one health issue that has attracted global consensus and witnessed massive investments over the past couple of decades, it is probably the death of mothers and their children (Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health, 2011)
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