Maternal mortality is the death of mothers irrespective of the cause. And neonatal mortality is the death of neonates from the time of birth up one month due to pregnancy, birth, and postnatal time related problems. The commonest causes of maternal and neonatal mortality are shown in the table below.
| Causes of maternal death | Percentage (%) |
|---|---|
| Unsafe abortion |
4 |
| Eclampsia (caused by dangerously high blood pressure during pregnancy) |
9 |
| Obstructed labor |
4 |
| Postpartum hemorrhage (bleeding after childbirth) |
34 |
| Puerperal sepsis (bloodstream infection after childbirth). |
16 |
| HIV/AIDS |
6.2 |
| Anemia |
4 |
| All other causes |
30 |
The commonest causes of neonatal mortality
Neonatal mortality is the death of newborn babies during the first four weeks of life after born alive. In the world, around millions newborn babies will die within the first four weeks of life due to different neonatal disease conditions. And 3 million still births due to some pregnancy related problems. The following table shows you the most common causes of neonatal death in Ethiopia.
| Diarrhea |
3 |
| Neonatal tetanus |
7 |
| Neonatal sepsis & other infections |
37 |
| Birth asphyxia |
25 |
| Prematurity and low birth weight |
17 |
| Congenital anomaly (birth defect) |
4 |
| Other causes |
7 |
Dear learner, what do you understand from the above two tables?
When the information on the above two tables is interpreted, it tells us there are still lots of works to be done in the community regarding to health service delivery. So,as a health extension worker, you are the one who is responsible in changing the lives of your community especially in the reduction of maternal and child mortality with effective health service delivery as a whole.