Trends and Causes of Maternal Mortality at the Tamale Teaching Hospital in Ghana, between 2010 and 2016

摘要

Background: Maternal mortality has become a thorny issue in the health discourse of many developing countries including Ghana. The research made a comprehensive audit of the maternal mortality cases at the Tamale Teaching Hospital during the MDG period and beyond. Despite the huge public cry on the subject, just a few studies have been conducted across the country. Objective: The aim and objective of this study was to identify the trends and causes of maternal deaths at the Tamale Teaching Hospital between 2010 and 2016, and find ways of reducing the rates. Method: A retrogressive investigation was conducted on maternal mortality records between January 2010 and December 2016. It consisted of all deaths related to pregnancy and childbirth at the hospital within the period under review. Nurses, midwives, and a gynaecologist were interviewed for the primary data while the secondary data was gathered from reports and records of patients. Results: The results revealed that a total of 272 women died out of 61,368 who came on admission to the facility. This represents a maternal mortality rate of 437.9 per 100,000 live births. The annual mortality trend did not indicate a uniform scenario but kept rising and falling. Direct or medical causes included eclampsia, sepsis, severe anaemia, pneumonia accounting for 68.27 percent of the deaths, while indirect causes such as malaria, HIV/AIDS, CSM and heart failure contributed 31.73%. Deaths Attributable to eclampsia alone was 25.30%, followed by severe anaemia with 15.60%, sepsis (10.84%), unsafe abortion (7.23%) with the least being pneumonia recording 2.41%. Conclusion: The maternal mortality rate recorded at the Tamale Teaching Hospital may appear to be smaller than other studies in the country and outside but it failed to meet MDG 5. This requires immediate action to help save the lives of mothers from these preventable causes. Major recommendations include: building new obstetric units in all facilities and improving existing ones with qualified personnel, logistics and equipment to fully take care of women in labour.