WORLD JOURNAL OF ADVANCE
HEALTHCARE RESEARCH

Sabina Baloch, Rahman Gul*,Ghulam Farooq, Safia Mengal, Muhammad Arif Mengal, Rubina Mir, Sultan Ahmed Lehri, Abdi Baloch, Kashmala Khan, Hafsa Gharsheen and Dawood Khan

ABSTRACT

Maternal Mortality: underestimated, poorly documented, and neglected tragedy. Every year approximately half a million females die globally due to pregnancy and labor. In other words one woman dies every 2 minutes. Developing countries bear the brunt of 99% of these fatalities. The severity of the problem is equivalent to a Jumbo Jet crashing every four hours. Maternal death and illness is alarmingly high in the third world nations and the common order of contributing factors in these cases are: lack of antenatal care, injudicious decision for domiciliary confinement, unawareness about the harshness after problems arise, extended interruption in search of medical care, unsuitable method of transport, patient unprepared for the journey, and, finally, admittance in hospital when the patient is dying. The statistics show that major reasons of maternal deaths in developing countries are post-delivery and antepartum bleeding, eclampsia and obstructed labor with septicemia. Sociocultural barriers and economic factors play a significant role affecting the high rates of maternal illness and deaths. Expectant females suffer at the first level care due to absence of well qualified and skilled healthcare employees in the communities. Furthermore, despite its well defined role, a patient referral system is not able to deliver effective services to pregnant women. Due to the limited capacity of the medical system, the overall obstetric services are insufficient in providing adequate treatment for pregnant women at primary, secondary, and tertiary care level. Pakistan has a population of over 210 million, is considered the fifth greatest populated country in the world, a growth rate of 1.86 % and stands 53rd in the list of nations contributing to increased maternal death ratio (186 per 100,000 live births). This article is a research literature review of Maternal Deaths in developing countries with a focus on Pakistan. Searches were conducted in PubMed, Medline, PLOS, Google scholar, Science Direct.