‘Adolescent mothers at high risk’
Around 290,000 cases of miscarriage are recorded annually in Punjab because of unavailability of basic health facilities and not following the methods of family planning, revealed a fact sheet issued by the Population Council ahead of the International Women’s Day.
As per the document, about one in five married adolescent women aged 15 to 19 years in Punjab have begun child bearing but lack of family planning, pregnancy complications and poor healthcare leads to miscarriage.
Miscarriages are the second biggest reason of married females’ deaths in young age in the province. According to health experts, family pressure to give birth, complications during immature births, unwanted birth of babies, ignoring family planning and genetic issues are major factors in the high death rate among females.
The mortality rate is high in the villages, where lack of women’s access to hospitals, handling of pregnancy cases by midwives, lack of adequate food and unwanted birth of babies are major reasons of miscarriage. According to the Population Council, a research organisation, reproductive health is a major concern related to women in the province.
An estimated 5.14 million women in Punjab annually pass through pregnancy, of whom 290,000 suffer miscarriage.
Of the pregnancies, 2.73 million fall in the category of ‘wanted baby,’ while 2.42 million fall in the ‘unintended’ category, inked to lack of family planning. About 1.31 million females indicate preference for abortion but 290,000 suffer miscarriages and many among them lose their life.
According to officials of the Population Council, the figures extracted from the Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey (PDHS 2017-18) and the Adding It Up Project have been used to prepare the report in the light of a survey.
The report shows that an estimated 617,000 pregnancies take place among adolescents and around 58 per cent of them end in abortion or miscarriage.
"Many of the adolescent pregnant women do not receive the care they need. They don't follow family planning, while they also face issues related to nutrition that is necessary during pregnancy. An alarming fact is that a large number of females die during miscarriage in the province,” said Population Council Advocacy Manager Huma Iqbal.
“The most common cause of maternal deaths among young females is hypertension, followed by unsafe abortion. An awareness campaign should be launched at the government level to avoid an increase in the ratio of miscarriages. It is a fact that if females here will follow family planning methods then we can control the instance of miscarriage,” she added.
Population Council Project Director Samiya Ali Shah said, “When we celebrate the Women’s day on March 8, we should think why such a large number of females is passing through the pain of miscarriage. We must discuss this issue as it also concerns the future mothers. The mother and child’s health is very important during pregnancy and the young mothers should consider the importance of their health when they think of giving birth,” she added.
A Lady Health Supervisor, Amna Shahzad, said while commenting on the issue that marriage at an early age and neglecting the pregnant women’s health was the reason of miscarriages.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 5th, 2023.