🌎 Nearly 77% delivered their babies prematurely, and nearly 60% of these children were born with low birth weight – issues that can influence a child’s lifelong health.
🌎 We found that 1️⃣ in 3️⃣ women who required critical care did not access it in time, and over 90% of 447 pregnant women in the study were already experiencing life-threatening symptoms when admitted to the hospital 🏥
🌎 PAHO has just completed a study tracking COVID deaths among pregnant women across 8 countries in the Americas.
🌎 Over the past two years, more than 365,000 cases of COVID-19 🦠 have been reported in pregnant women in the Americas, and over 3,000 of them died.
🌎 Pregnant women 🤰🏽 are also among those most vulnerable to COVID-19, due to changes in their immune system which can put them at risk for severe disease.
🌎 There was a large increase in mortality among pregnant women in the United States beginning in August 2021, after the Delta variant had become predominant.
The highest number of cases were among Hispanic and White Non-Hispanic women.
🌎 Data from across the region has made it very clear that COVID had a staggering impact on maternal mortality.
Disruptions to prenatal services and lack of access to timely care led to more expectant women dying across our region.
🌎 As the vast majority of our health workforce, women were at the frontlines caring for COVID patients and putting themselves at risk.
It’s no surprise that they accounted for 72% of all COVID cases among health professionals 👩🏽⚕️
🌎 As countries enacted lockdowns to slow the spread of the virus, there was a spike in violence against women.
During these periods, calls to domestic violence hotlines soared 📈 by 40% in some countries.
🌎 Many women had to take on more at home as primary caregivers, and are still struggling to resume their careers.
