Maternal mortality according to race/skin color in Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil, from 2010 to 2015

Influence of sociodemographic and obstetric factors on maternal mortality in Brazil from 2011 to 2021

BACKGROUND

Obstetric causes are classified as direct (complications of pregnancy, childbirth or the puerperium) or indirect (caused by pregnancy but not directly caused by it). This study aimed to analyze maternal mortality from obstetric causes in Brazil from 2011 to 2021.

METHODS

This was an ecological study on mortality and live births. The outcomes were the specific risk of mortality from direct and indirect cause adjustment and death during pregnancy and the puerperium. Binary and multiple linear logistic regressions were used to assess the influence of sociodemographic factors and maternal and child health indicators on maternal mortality and time of death (pregnancy and puerperium).

RESULTS

Regarding mortality during pregnancy and during the puerperium, increased (p = 0.003) and decreased (p = 0.004) mortality over the years, respectively; residing in the northern region was associated with lower (p < 0.05) and greater (p = 0.035) odds; and the Maternal Mortality Committee was the primary and least active source of investigation, respectively (p < 0.0001). The number of deaths from indirect causes increased with age (p < 0.001) and in the northern region (p = 0.011) and decreased in the white (< 0.05) and stable union (0.002) regions. Specifically, for mortality risk, the age group [women aged 15-19 years presented an increase in cesarean section (p < 0.001) was greater than that of women who had < 4 antenatal visits (p < 0.001)], education [women who completed high school (8 to 11 years) was greater when they had < 4 prenatal visits (p = 0.018)], and marital status [unmarried women had more than 4 antenatal visits (p < 0.001); cesarean birth (p = 0.010) and < 4 antenatal visits (p = 0.009) were predictors of marriage; and women in a stable union who had < 4 prenatal visits and live births to teenage mothers (p < 0.001) were predictors]. Women who had no education (p = 0.003), were divorced (p = 0.036), had cesarean deliveries (p < 0.012), or lived in the north or northeast (p < 0.008) had higher indirect specific mortality risk.

CONCLUSIONS

Sociodemographic factors and maternal and child health indicators were related to different patterns of obstetric mortality. Obstetric mortality varied by region, marital status, race, delivery, prenatal care, and cause of death.

Anti-Black racism and maternal death from COVID-19: what have we seen in the Pandemic?

Anti-Black Racism traverses the lives of Black and Brown women, compromising sexual and reproductive health. Obstetric racism during pregnancy, prenatal care, childbirth, abortion, and puerperium affects these women, exposing them to harmful and often lethal maternal outcomes. This study aims to present racism and its manifestations in maternal death by COVID-19. It included data from COVID-19 notifications among pregnant women and puerperae recorded in the severe acute respiratory syndrome database (2021 and 2022). Information on race/skin color, age, region, clinical signs and symptoms, ICU, and deaths were collected. The results indicate how racism affects Black and Brown pregnant women and puerperae, who have higher lethality due to COVID-19 compared to White women (a difference of 14.02%), particularly in the puerperium. Black and Brown pregnant women least accessed the ICU. After adjustments, maternal death in the puerperium for Black women was 62% more likely than for White women (OR=1.62; 95%CI: 1.01-2.63). Racism and its manifestations (dis)organize the reproductive trajectories of Black and Brown women, whose interaction with sexism contributes to harmful and lethal maternal outcomes by COVID-19.

Ways and detours in guarantee of health for the black population and the confrontation of racism in Brazil

Institutional racism is prevalent in the health services in Brazil and is based on concrete power relations that subjugate, dominate and exclude blacks from having adequate access to health care and health institutions. This critical essay analyzes the importance of expanding the debate, and the production of knowledge about the health of the black population (HBP), focusing on two points: the role of the National Policy for the Integral Health of the Black Population (PNSIPN) and the importance of including the skin color item in the health information systems; and the need for a process of permanent training of professionals, including contents related to the understanding of racism as an element of the social determination of health/disease and heir effects. To demonstrate how structural and institutional racism have affected the black population, we bring also examples of the quilombola populations in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic in the country since 2020. It is concluded that the promotion of care, the reduction of inequities and the quality of health care need to undergo changes in several dimensions, such as the strengthening of the SUS, the daily fight against structural and institutional racism, among others.

Ways and detours in guarantee of health for the black population and the confrontation of racism in Brazil

Abstract Institutional racism is prevalent in the health services in Brazil and is based on concrete power relations that subjugate, dominate and exclude blacks from having adequate access to health care and health institutions. This critical essay analyzes the importance of expanding the debate, and the production of knowledge about the health of the black population (HBP), focusing on two points: the role of the National Policy for the Integral Health of the Black Population (PNSIPN) and the importance of including the skin color item in the health information systems; and the need for a process of permanent training of professionals, including contents related to the understanding of racism as an element of the social determination of health/disease and heir effects. To demonstrate how structural and institutional racism have affected the black population, we bring also examples of the quilombola populations in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic in the country since 2020. It is concluded that the promotion of care, the reduction of inequities and the quality of health care need to undergo changes in several dimensions, such as the strengthening of the SUS, the daily fight against structural and institutional racism, among others.

Avaliação da atenção pré-natal ofertada às mulheres indígenas no Brasil: achados do Primeiro Inquérito Nacional de Saúde e Nutrição dos Povos Indígenas

Resumo: Este estudo avalia a atenção pré-natal de mulheres indígenas com idades entre 14-49 anos, com filhos menores de 60 meses no Brasil. O Primeiro Inquérito Nacional de Saúde e Nutrição dos Povos Indígenas avaliou 3.967 mulheres que atendiam a tais requisitos, sendo 41,3% da Região Norte; 21,2% do Centro-oeste; 22,2% do Nordeste; e 15% do Sul/Sudeste. O pré-natal foi ofertado a 3.437 (86,6%) delas. A Região Norte registrou a maior proporção de mulheres que não fizeram pré-natal. A cobertura alcançada foi de 90,4%, mas somente cerca de 30% iniciaram o pré-natal no 1º trimestre e apenas 60% das elegíveis foram vacinadas contra difteria e tétano. Somente 16% das gestantes indígenas realizaram 7 ou mais consultas de pré-natal. Ter acesso a pelo menos um cuidado clínico-obstétrico foi observado em cerca de 97% dos registros, exceto exame de mamas (63%). Foi baixa a solicitação de exames (glicemia 53,6%, urina 53%, hemograma 56,9%, citologia oncótica 12,9%, teste de sífilis 57,6%, sorologia para HIV 44,2%, hepatite B 53,6%, rubéola 21,4% e toxoplasmose 32,6%) e prescrição de sulfato ferroso (44,1%). No conjunto, a proporção de solicitações de exames laboratoriais preconizados não ultrapassou 53%. Os percentuais de realização das ações do pré-natal das indígenas são mais baixos que os encontrados para mulheres não indígenas no conjunto do território nacional, e até mesmo para as residentes em regiões de elevada vulnerabilidade social e baixa cobertura assistencial como a Amazônia Legal e o Nordeste. Os resultados reafirmam a persistência de desigualdades étnico-raciais que comprometem a saúde e o bem-estar de mães indígenas.