More pregnant women are dying in Congo as they avoid hospitals over Ebola
Pregnant women in the Democratic Republic of Congo are avoiding hospitals due to fears and rumors surrounding the Ebola outbreak, leading to a sharp increase in maternal mortality. Health officials are struggling to manage the 'shadow crisis' as maternal deaths have nearly doubled in affected regions.
Why it matters
Public health emergencies often cause secondary crises where fear of treatment centers leads to preventable deaths from unrelated medical conditions.
Esther Lutula stopped going for prenatal checkups shortly after the current Ebola outbreak was declared in eastern Congo. Midway into her pregnancy, the 26-year-old feared being put into isolation simply for having a fever, a common misconception. “That’s why I’m waiting until the disease is no longer widespread,” she told the Associated Press from her home in Bunia, the capital of Ituri province and epicenter of the outbreak declared on May 15. But that could be a deadly mistake. Maternal mortality across Ituri soon doubled as news of the outbreak spread, with an average of about six women dying per week due to childbirth complications, according to Noemi Dalmonte, deputy country representative of the United Nations Population Fund, or UNFPA, in Congo. While there was an average of 3.1 maternal deaths weekly this year before the outbreak, that jumped to 5.8 deaths from May 25 to July 19.
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