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Basic Actions
Maternal Mortality Prevention
Maternal Mortality: it is the death of women during
the pregnancy or 42 days after the baby's birth. It
occurs by any cause related with the pregnancy or aggravated
by it.
Which are the causes of Maternal Death?
The four main causes of maternal death in Brazil are:
- high blood pressure (hyper tensile diseases, like
for example the eclampsy);
- bleedings (hemorrhages);
- infections that can occur after birth (puerperal infections);
- abortion complications.
What does Pastoral da Criança community leader
can do?
The causes of Maternal Mortality, at its majority,
can be evitated. Pastoral da Criança community
leaders take to the pregnant woman the message of solidarity
and fraternity is for the pregnancy so much waited,
for that of risk, for that not planned... Therefore,
LIFE is a God's gift and it is due to all of us to fight
for it.
To help the community leaders at their mission we disposed
of materials like "Ties of Love" and the same
"Leader's Guide", that are very important
instruments at the follow up of pregnant women. They
orient us at the observation and recognition of danger
signs, at the incentive to prenatal appointments, at
the pregnant woman feeding, at the changes that occur
at the woman's body, at the preparation for breastfeeding,
etc.
This also can be a theme of discussion at the small
talking circles or at any other community meeting.
Which are the risk factors for Maternal Mortality?
The pregnant woman's age. The first pregnancy at adolescents
with less than 15 and woman with more than 35 becomes
more probable to appear hypertensive diseases. The women
with several pregnancies and above 35 are more propense
to have hemorrhages.
The prenatal of low quality. It is not only necessary
a prenatal, it is necessary to give quality assistance,
such as, it is important the frequency and quality of
the attendance at the prenatal.
The quality of the assistance at birth, as from the
institution part as from the professionals that assist
the pregnant women.
The difficulty of access to maternities. We should
have mechanisms that link the prenatal to the birth
and the disposability of rooms at the maternities, evicting,
thus, the peregrination of women at birth labor at the
search for assistance.
But why does the Pastoral da Criança community
leader need to orient on the importance of prenatal?
Every pregnant women have the right to have, at least,
six prenatal appointments per pregnancy. It is at the
prenatal that are done the exams, verified the blood
pressure, weight gain, womb size, hear the baby's heart,
realization of blood exams (to see if the pregnant woman
is with anemia, diabetes, syphilis, hepatitis, aids
and to know which is the blood type), realization of
urine exam (to see if the pregnant woman has any infection
or if she is loosing protein from the blood), seeking,
thus, to control and diminish the factors that can take
our women to maternal mortality.
Orientating our pregnant women we are enforcing for
that ALL HAVE LIFE, AND HAVE IT IN ABUNDANCE.
Sonia Scharam
Pastoral da Criança Technical Advisor
More information with Clóvis Boufleur, Annalice
Del Vechio de Lina, Lilian Cátia de Jesus
telephone: (+55041) 336-0250 or
E-mail: clovis@pastoraldacrianca.org.br,
annalice@pastoraldacrianca.org.br
e lilian@pastoraldacrianca.org.br
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