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Delta surge puts pregnant women at higher risk of death
The Indonesian Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology (POGI) revealed that based on Health Ministry data, nearly 20 percent of the 2,179 maternal deaths recorded this year were COVID-19-related, and a majority of these women could have been saved by early detection.
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Throughout much of the developing world, many expecting mothers die of completely preventable causes because they either give birth in their own homes, without access to skilled birth attendants, or in facilities with limited basic emergency care or poor hygiene. (Shutterstock/Eggeegg)
T
he late detection of COVID-19 is responsible for one-fifth of the deaths of pregnant women in Indonesia this year, the country’s obstetricians association has found.
Additionally, the recent surge in cases driven by the more infectious Delta variant may put expecting mothers at greater risk even as the government scrambles to prioritize their treatment, it said.
The Indonesian Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology (POGI) revealed that based on Health Ministry data, nearly 20 percent of the 2,179 maternal deaths recorded this year were COVID-19-related, and a majority of these women could have been saved by early detection.
“As many as 72 percent of pregnant mothers who tested positive for COVID-19 were diagnosed in their late trimester or 37 weeks into their pregnancy, [and only] because they had to get treated before giving birth,” said POGI head Ari Kusuma in a phone interview with The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.
“It’s much too late for them to get tested at this point."
This sentiment is shared by many obstetricians and gynecologists (OB-GYN), as pregnant women fall into a population group that is more susceptible to severe cases of COVID-19.
“Pregnant women need to get immediately tested for COVID-19 if they show any symptoms or have had close contact with someone who was COVID-19-positive,” M. Ilham Aldika, an OB-GYN based out of Surabaya, East Java, said at a webinar hosted by Kawal COVID-19 last week.
