More than 5 thousand lives lost: maternal mortality increased by 69% during the covid-19 pandemic | Health & well-being

Covid-19 had a significant impact on maternal mortality rates in Brazil. In the first two years of the pandemic, more than five thousand mothers lost their lives, a much worse scenario than experts predicted. According to data from a study led by Fiocruzbetween 2020 and 2021, the excess of maternal deaths was 69% (5,040/2,986) in the country — with a 39% increase (2,104/1,518) in the first year and 100% (2,935/1,468) in the second year.

The World Health Organization (WHO) considers maternal mortality to be cases of women who lose their lives during pregnancy or within 42 days after the end of pregnancy. The main causes are obstetric complications related to the period of pregnancy and the postpartum period, including hypertension (pre-eclampsia and eclampsia); postpartum hemorrhage; sepsis/infection; complications of abortion and dysfunction in general.

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The study also highlighted the number of maternal deaths regionally. Between March 2020 and February 2022, the Southeast region recorded the highest number of deaths, with 1,739 deaths, followed by the Northeast region with 1,516. The North had 743 deaths, the South 558 and the Central-West 484. When breaking down by age group, in women aged between 35 and 49 years old in the southern region, an explosive pattern was observed, with 413% excess deaths, during the four months from March to June 2021.

Learning period

Published in the scientific journal Plos One, the study sought to assess the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on maternal health based on official data from the Ministry of Health. “At this point in the pandemic, it does not seem reasonable to doubt the direct impacts of the epidemic on Covid-19 mortality in the Brazil, as in the first two years alone around 650,000 deaths from the disease were recorded, a frightening number that proves the negligence in tackling it. However, little was known about the indirect effects of the Covid-19 epidemic and our study showed a serious impact on maternal deaths, strong enough to compromise Brazil’s goals related to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It’s a shame, but it’s a health and humanitarian lesson, as this was not the first and will not be the last pandemic we faced”, highlighted epidemiologist Jesem Orellana, who coordinates the Statistics, Geoprocessing and Epidemiology Modeling Laboratory (Legepi) at Fiocruz Amazônia.

In the article titled Impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on excess maternal deaths in Brazil: A two-year assessment (in free translation: Impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on excess maternal deaths in Brazil: an assessment of the first two years), the authors concluded that there was a strong excess of maternal deaths in Brazil, especially in the second year of the pandemic and in the four-month period from March to June 2021, a time of rapid spread of the variant Range (P1) and when many believed that the epidemic was ending in the country. “We cannot emphasize enough the importance of a timely and effective epidemic response, not only to prevent tragic and preventable deaths during acute periods, but also to combat the residual effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and new crises in a way that is sensitive to the contexts of low- and middle-income countries, such as Brazil’s clear distancing from its commitment through the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to reduce maternal mortality to a maximum of 30 cases per 100,000 live births by 2030 “, highlighted the researchers.