ABU DHABI // The number of women dying during pregnancy or child birth has halved in the past 25 years.
The UAE now has the lowest rate of maternal deaths in the region and one of the lowest in the world, according to the World Health Statistics 2015 report released on Wednesday.
Maternal death is defined as during pregnancy or within six weeks after giving birth.
Infant mortality rate, the probability of dying within a year of birth, has also halved over the 25 years.
Dr Paul Bosio, chief medical officer at Corniche Hospital, Abu Dhabi’s biggest maternity centre, said the results proved the country was making advances in health care.
“The results are extremely positive,” Dr Bosio said. “We have made huge progress in the past 25 years and the development in health care has been very, very significant.”
He said the two main factors affecting maternal mortality were access to health care and its quality.
More hospitals and healthcare centres means women now have easy access, said Dr Bosio. Higher standards were also a factor, he said.
“Now there is a gradual improvement in the actual quality of care that mothers have which is allowing us to establish a rate which is comparable to the best in the developed world,” said Dr Bosio.
The WHO’s annual compilation of health-related data for 194 countries found the maternal mortality rate in the UAE was 16 in every 100,000 live births in 1990. The ratio is now eight in every 100,000.
The average for the wider eastern Mediterranean region is 170 maternal deaths for every 100,000 live births, while the worldwide average is 69 maternal deaths for each 100,000 live births.
“I am not surprised by these figures as they include many developing countries,” said Dr Bosio. Access to health care still hampers efforts to reduce maternal mortality in developing countries, he said.
The country with the lowest maternal mortality rate was Belarus with one for each 100,000 live births, followed by Israel with two for each 100,000 and Poland with three for each 100,000.
Dr Muna Al Wasl, chief executive of Latifa Hospital in Dubai, which is one of the largest and oldest maternity and children’s hospital in the UAE, welcomed the results.
“People are focusing more on maternal health,” Dr Al Wasl said. “The statistics today are a result of all these efforts, preparation and strategy all over the UAE.”
Worldwide, haemorrhage (27 per cent), hypertensive diseases of pregnancy (14 per cent) and sepsis (11 per cent), continue to be the leading causes of maternal deaths.
Dr Al Wasl believes that keeping a blood bank on site at Latifa has helped to avoid delays in getting supplies to haemorrhaging patients and reduce the number of maternal deaths.
Categorising patients into high and low risk has also contributed to the reduction, she said.
Identifying and following international guidelines has also been an important tool in keeping expectant and new mothers healthy, she said.
Maternal deaths decreased globally by about 45 per cent between 1990 and 2013 from an estimated 523,000 a year to 289,000, the WHO said.
Infant mortality dropped from 14 per 1,000 live births in the UAE in 1990 to seven for each 1,000 births in 2013, and under-5 mortality rate more than halved from 17 for each 1,000 live births in 1990 to eight for each 1,000 in 2013
“Rates are low because the UAE has a highly developed health service, including a sophisticated infrastructure of well-equipped hospitals, specialised clinics and primary care centres,” said Dr Anselma Ferrao, medical director at Brightpoint Royal Women’s Hospital in Abu Dhabi.
“Health care is free for all UAE nationals and there is a compulsory health insurance scheme in place in Abu Dhabi to cover all residents.”
National awareness campaigns about women’s health have also contributed to the reduction, she said.
“Maternal mortality rate and infant mortality rate reflect the health care in a country, and I am happy to be part of the progress that health care has made in UAE.”
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