The coronavirus pandemic might “wipe away 20 years of hard-fought beneficial properties” in lowering maternal mortality in Latin America and the Caribbean, and international locations within the area ought to prioritize those that are pregnant and those that have lately given delivery of their vaccination campaigns, officers on the World Well being Group warned on Wednesday.
“Up to now, greater than 270,000 pregnant ladies have change into sick with Covid within the Americas and greater than 2,600 of them — or 1 p.c of these contaminated — have died from the virus,” Dr. Carissa F. Etienne, the director of the Pan American Well being Group, a division of the W.H.O., mentioned at a information convention.
Being pregnant enhances vulnerability to respiratory infections, together with Covid-19, and is related to a better chance of significant Covid signs.
Most international locations have reported increased numbers of instances and deaths throughout being pregnant in 2021 than in all of final yr, and in Mexico and Colombia Covid-19 has change into the highest reason for maternal loss of life this yr. Mexico, Argentina and Brazil have accounted for half of all maternal Covid-19 deaths within the Americas, Dr. Etienne mentioned.
Her group recommends that vaccinations be common through the first trimester of being pregnant and for individuals who are breastfeeding, as breast milk confers the vaccine’s safety to newborns. That’s steering just like that issued final month by the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention.
Nevertheless, lower than half of the international locations in Latin America and the Caribbean have set out particular vaccination tips associated to being pregnant and delivery, Dr. Etienne mentioned.
In Mexico which has prioritized photographs throughout being pregnant for a while, Dr. Etienne mentioned, “not a single vaccinated girl has died from Covid throughout being pregnant.”
Nevertheless, the pandemic has decreased entry to prenatal care, Dr. Etienne mentioned, noting that at the least 40 p.c of the international locations in Latin America and the Caribbean have reported disruptions to maternal and new child care. And the area continues to endure from a basic scarcity of vaccines. Solely 28 p.c of individuals in Latin America and the Caribbean have been totally inoculated in opposition to Covid-19, Dr. Etienne mentioned.
In some international locations within the area, the numbers are far decrease, with one-quarter of them vaccinating lower than 20 p.c of their inhabitants. Venezuela has totally vaccinated a bit greater than 11 p.c of its inhabitants; Guatemala and Nicaragua have totally vaccinated lower than 10 p.c of their individuals; and in Haiti, the proportion falls to lower than 1 p.c.
Within the Caribbean, infections are dropping as an entire, though there is a rise in Covid-19 deaths in a number of islands, together with Jamaica and Puerto Rico.
Infections are additionally rising in a number of Central American international locations, together with Costa Rica, Belize, and Guatemala, the place half of hospitals are over capability.
Against this, in South America, except for Venezuela, instances and deaths have been steadily dropping. Officers with the Pan American Well being Group didn’t handle if testing quantity within the area could have affected the variety of reported instances.
“We’re working collectively with the ministries of well being and specialists within the counties to check tendencies and the explanations as to why these decreases have continued,” mentioned Ciro Ugarte, the group’s director of well being emergencies. “When instances lower it’s as a result of we’re doing issues effectively, which suggests we’re implementing the general public well being measures which have confirmed as soon as and once more that they nonetheless work.”
Now although, international locations within the area have to be cautious to not calm down these measures, he mentioned, “as a result of that may be a nice alternative for the virus.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/08/world/americas/covid-pregnancy-caribbean-latin-america.html
