Latest update April 9th, 2025 12:59 AM
Poor obstetric performance, infrequent access to prenatal care among common causes for Guyana’s maternal deaths – US report
Kaieteur News – While concerns have been raised over the number of maternal and prenatal deaths in Guyana, a recently released human rights report from the United States (US) Department of State has pointed to some the main reasons for the increasing death rate.
For last year alone, the Ministry of Health recorded 17 maternal deaths—this does not include deaths that occur in the far-flung areas of Guyana. According to the 2022 US Department of State report, the figure represents a fraction of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) current country data which holds Guyana’s maternal mortality rate of 169 deaths per 100,000 live births.
Alluding to the troubling statistics, the Department of State highlighted some of the primary causes for maternal death in Guyana.
According to the “the primary causes include poor obstetric performance, malaria, poor nutrition, and infrequent access to prenatal care among some women in remote areas due to inadequate transportation.”
In addition to this, the US Department of State said that a 2017 UNICEF study anecdotally outlined that maternal mortality rates for the indigenous community, irrespective of location, were higher than for the rest of the population but did not have qualitative data to support the data.
Referring to the UNICEF data from 2017, the document indicated that the rate of adolescent pregnancy within the Indigenous community stands at 148 per thousand, which is double the national average of 74 per thousand.
According the human rights document, another factor that adds to the maternal and childcare death is the geographical circumstances which remain the primary barrier to access health care, including emergency health care, specifically in the interior regions.
In 2018, Guyana’s mortality rate stood at 229 maternal deaths, which is said to be an overwhelming number for a country with a population of approximately 750,000.
However, a successful collaboration with the Pan American Health Organisation/ World Health Organisation (PAHO/WHO) resulted in a sharp decline in Guyana’s mortality rate in 2019, just one year later. In fact, the death rate fell to a range of seven to 14 in 2019.
A 2019 MoH report noted that this was due to the fact that PAHO had started monitoring and assessing the maternal deaths locally.
This resulted in PAHO finding that a significant number of the maternal deaths were related to serious haemoglobin deficiencies, which are not detected until late in the pregnancies. This deficiency, a report by the agency said, can lead to serious blood loss (haemorrhaging) in childbirth, which eventually leads to death.
Specifically, it stated that since 52 percent of women go into labour with a low percentage of haemoglobin, and as such, recommendations were made and taken on board for the improvement of the haemoglobin levels in pregnant women.
Further, PAHO/WHO noted that acquiring zero maternal deaths coincides with Guyana achieving the human rights conventions set by the United Nations (UN) to eliminate all preventable maternal deaths. With the number of maternal deaths spiking again and PAHO/WHO have been providing support particularly to health care workers. PAHO/WHO has been proactive in its efforts to help Guyana achieve targets under the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGS) for Good Health and Wellbeing. One of these targets is to end preventable deaths of newborns and children younger than 5 years of age by 2030.
- Guyana, obstetric, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGS), United Nations (UN), World Health Organization’s (WHO)
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