Factors associated with maternal deaths in Bongor Provincial Hospital, Chad

Abstract

Introduction: Maternal mortality remains a major public health problem, particularly in Chad. The aim of this study was to analyse the  factors associated with maternal death.

Method: This was a retrospective descriptive and analytical study conducted at  Bongor Provincial Hospital (BPH) over a 5-year period  (2015 to 2020). The  study population consisted of all maternity patients who died in this hospital  and whose records were complete. The  variables studied were epidemiological,  clinical, and therapeutic factors. The data were collected and analysed using  Sphinx Plus²(V5)  software. The Chi-square test was used to compare the  variables. A p-value of less than 0.05 was considered significant.

Results: We  registered 13,758 women with all pathologies, of which 6,349  met the inclusion criteria; 98 of them died (1.5%) giving a Maternal  Mortality  Rate (MMR) of 1005/100,000 live births. These deaths mainly occurred in  women aged between 20 and 24 years (30.6%), who  were married (79.6%),  housewives (59.2%), multiparous (33.7%), from rural areas (74.5%),  uneducated (39.8%) and who had had no  prenatal care (60.2%). The main  aetiologies reported were: genital haemorrhage (77.5%), infections (63.3%),  malaria (61.2%), severe  anaemia (39.8%) and dystocia (25.5%).

Conclusion: Maternal mortality is a major health problem, and its reduction  requires the  mobilization of all actors in society and implies good health  education, improvement of the quality of prenatal follow-up and emergency  obstetric care.