Mothers and their babies may die due to complications during or after birth. Although it has decreased compared to the past with developing medical technologies, it is not completely over. The maternal mortality rate in Turkey was 15 per hundred thousand in 2017; The number of infant deaths was 11 thousand 598 in 2018 and 10 thousand 770 in 2019. It is not possible to eliminate every situation that negatively affects maternal and child health, but it is possible to reduce the risks, and we can do this by knowing the risks. We can contribute to mother-child health by knowing the risks.
Causes of Maternal Death
We can examine maternal deaths under two headings:
Direct Maternal Deaths
Obstetric complications that develop during pregnancy, birth and the postpartum period are deaths caused by any one or more of them, negligence or incorrect treatment. We can list these reasons as follows:
-Bleeding
-Hypertension
-Thromboembolism
-Dystocia
-Infection and miscarriages
(ScientificAmerican's statistical data on maternal and infant deaths)
Indirect Maternal Deaths
Previous illnesses, diseases that occur with pregnancy, deaths due to differences caused by the physiological effects of pregnancy. We can list these situations as follows:
-Cardiovascular reasons,
-Cerebrovascular causes,
-Psychiatric disorders,
-Infections,
-Neoplasms.
Infant Deaths
Causes of infant death; It may be due to birth asphyxia (failure to start breathing), conditions that develop with premature birth, diseases such as pneumonia, malaria, measles, diarrhea, birth under unhealthy conditions or the unhealthy state of the mother. Situations that pose risks for babies can be listed as follows:
Conditions that occurred before pregnancy: The age of the mother is very important. Being younger than 18 or older than 35, having given birth to multiple births, the difference between two pregnancies being 2 or less years, consanguineous marriage, and having had a stillbirth or difficult birth before increase the risk.
Risks during pregnancy: Exposure to radiation, medications and diseases, especially in the first three months when pregnancy becomes important, are situations that endanger pregnancy. Situations such as anemia in the mother, blood incompatibility between mother and baby, too much or too little weight gain in the mother, and not being properly and adequately nourished increase the risk.
Risks that occur during birth: Head-hip discrepancy, cord and placenta anomalies, which are called obstetrics, are risky if the person giving birth is uninformed or the environment in which the birth is performed is unhealthy.
Baby weight less than 2500 grams, birth abnormalities, malnutrition, absence or insufficient breast milk, and infections may increase infant deaths after birth.