The Minister of Health and Wellness says the COVID-19 pandemic has contributed to the increase in the country’s maternal mortality rate.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Jamaica saw an increase in its maternal mortality rate, which was over 200 per 100,000 live births each year. This is an increase compared to the 100 per 100,000 live births recorded in 2016.

“COVID brought significant side effects to maternal care, and it is not unique to Jamaica; indeed, the global figures suggest that maternal mortality went up because of the COVID pandemic, and we were as many victims of that as the world was a victim of this COVID virus. It wasn’t just about the virus; it was about mothers turning up late, chronic illnesses that have not been treated or controlled, which made the pregnancies [riskier], and a number of other issues,” the health minister said.

The chief medical officer in the Ministry of Health, Dr Jacquiline Bisasor McKenzie, said the major causes of deaths in mothers during the period were hypertension, postpartum hemorrhage, and chronic diseases.

As such, she said it is important for aspiring mothers to ensure that they are mentally and physically well to manage pregnancy.

“When we look at our maternal deaths, we have problems with mothers not seeking care in time, so there is a delay in the mother getting to care, and then we also have problems once the mother comes into care; there are sometimes delays in interventions,” the CMO outlined.

She said the health ministry will be launching an antenatal campaign to educate individuals about the importance of planning for a pregnancy, maintaining a healthy diet, and preparing for a pregnancy.

“We are also doing a lot in terms of improving the capacity of our hospitals. The Minister would have spoken about the PROMAC [Programme for the Reduction of Maternal and Child Mortality] and the different types of training that would have been put in place to equip our primary care providers, our specialists in hospitals, with more knowledge to care better.

The equipment that has been put in to monitor the pregnancies and to be able to intervene, and the infrastructure, but in addition to that, we are looking at our clinical guidelines. Where clinical guidelines would not have existed, we have created those guidelines; we have reviewed those guidelines; we have updated those guidelines; and, more importantly, we have trained and continue to train our healthcare workers on these guidelines so that we can have more immediate attention when mothers get into problems and that we can save those lives,” she shared.

She noted that maternal mortality is an important concern for the Health Ministry and is being given immediate attention to reduce the rate.