Over 27% of pregnant women fatalities occur at home

These are the results of a recent survey of the fatality rate of mothers-to-be in seven regions of Vietnam, which was released by the Health Ministry’s Reproductive Health Agency o­n August 22.

According to the survey, the real percentage of dead mothers-to-be in Vietnam is much higher than official reports. Up to 76% of deaths of expectant mothers are caused by hemorrhage, bacterial contamination and pre-eclampsia.

Around 48% of the deaths of expectant mothers occur during normal delivery cases and around 48.7% of the cases occur at health stations of provincial and district levels. Especially, the percentage of deaths that occur during delivery at home is 27.5%.

The mountainous and Central Highlands regions account for 60% of the total cases of dead expectant mothers.

Notably, around 30% of diagnosis and treatment methods applied by obstetrical doctors are inaccurate.

The Health Ministry has approved a $10 million, Dutch-funded project to reduce the fatality rate of mothers-to-be and newborn babies in ten provinces in the north and four in the Central Highlands.