pneumonias

Almost 5 000 women died while pregnant or within 42 days of giving birth in South Africa between 2008 and 2010, more than in any of the previous years.

This is according to the Saving Mothers report that summarises findings on the confidential enquiries into maternal deaths in South Africa between 2008 to 2010.

The “big 5” accounted for 86.5% of maternal deaths – Non Pregnancy Related Infections (NPRI) at 40.5% was by far the biggest factor.

The majority of these NPRI conditions were diagnosed before birth (59.7%), but the majority of deaths occurred after the births (60.6%).

The report covers the maternal deaths that were reported to the NCCEMD secretariat by 15th April 2011, and that occurred in the triennium 2008-2010. The same definitions used in previous Saving Mothers reports were used in this report.

Key findings