Review Shows Maternal and Perinatal Outcomes Impacted Due to Pandemic

Impact on woman reproductive health due to covid pandemic…read more…

Monday, 5th April 2021

The Covid-19 pandemic has had deep-seated impacts on the health care system and more particularly on maternal, foetal, and neonatal outcomes.

There, however, has not been many undertakings in a systematic synthesis of evidence to that effect.

Recently a review has been published in The Lancet Global Health Journal, titled “Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on maternal and perinatal outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis”, which attempts at pointing out the increased numbers of stillbirth and maternal deaths during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The staggering data suggest that the numbers have shot up by almost one third, with a disturbing difference in stillbirths seen in high and low resource groups.

The review is based on data that has been collected from 40 studies conducted in 17 different nations. The study reveals that the pandemic’s detrimental effects have not been limited to only morbidity and mortality caused directly by the disease, on maternal and perinatal health.

A considerable downturn has been seen in a number of maternal health indicators, in an analysis by the Population Foundation of India’s analysis of the Health Management Information System (HMIS) data 1 for the period of April 2020 to June 2020, when it was compared to the same period in 2019.

A decline by 27 percent was seen in pregnant women receiving four or more ANC, a 28 percent drop in institutional deliveries and a 22 percent decline in prenatal services during this period.

Women and infants have suffered severe health impacts including risky pregnancies due to continued government-imposed lockdowns across the world, disruption in maternal health services, cut downs in health-seeking behaviour and the anxiety of getting infected from health providers.

It is believed that the rise in such maternal fears could be due to reduced medical attendance, limited permissible movement, and lack of childcare access during lockdowns. It has also come to light that a disparity in digital access in low and middle-income countries has made remote consultations unattainable for many. This has to interference with preventive antenatal care for vulnerable groups.

Maternal mortality has also gone up due to a rise in domestic violence, as per the review. This, along with a loss of employment for many women has affected their physical, emotional, and financial well-being.

Poonam Muttreja, Executive Director, Population Foundation of India said, it is imperative that maternal health systems remain a core part of the public health system.

The News Talkie Bureau

Source:

Expresshealthcare