Pay more attention to pre-eclampsia signs
What you need to know:
- Way forward. If only government could set aside a fraction of the taxes collected from football to facilitate the clubs that generate it.
- One such prominent victim was former Iganga District Woman MP Grace Hailat Kaudha, who succumbed to the condition on July 7 last year. Doctors say perhaps because of her busy schedule, she had not kept a strict regime on antenatal visits and when the situation arose, it soon went overboard and out of hand.
Uganda joins the rest of the world today to mark the World Pre-eclampsia Day, after it was cast on the world calendar two years ago.
The day is meant to raise awareness about pre-eclampsia, a pregnancy disorder characterised by hypertension (high blood pressure), especially after 20 weeks of pregnancy, which is responsible for 26 out of 136 maternal deaths registered annually at Mulago National Referral Hospital.
The trend is not soothing for the ear. Dr Annette Nakimuli, the head of Mulago’s Gynaecology and Obstetrics Department, says eight out of every 100 admissions at the facility are as a result of high blood pressure during pregnancy. Dr Vincent Karuhanga, a general practitioner at Friends Ployclinic, says pre-eclampsia occurs when vessels of the placenta do not give the child enough oxygen, in the process weakening the mother and causing high blood pressure and in extreme cases, damage organs such as the kidney, brain or the liver.
The early signs, he says, include swollen legs, hands, fingers, shortness of breath, sudden weight gain, increased heartbeat, and flashing lights in the eyes. Dr Jafhar Nyombi, a gynaecologist at Naguru Hospital, says some other signs to look out for are headache, blurred vision, and pain in the upper part of the abdomen. And if not detected early, the disorder may cause convulsions, often leading to death of the mother.
Yet even with all these manifestations, the exact cause of the condition is not known and it continues killing mothers. For example, the 2016/17 report on maternal and perinatal death surveillance and response, says in 2017, 23.6 per cent of the maternal deaths were as a result of pre-eclampsia.
One such prominent victim was former Iganga District Woman MP Grace Hailat Kaudha, who succumbed to the condition on July 7 last year. Doctors say perhaps because of her busy schedule, she had not kept a strict regime on antenatal visits and when the situation arose, it soon went overboard and out of hand.
Often, the death of mothers while bringing life is blamed on medical officers or particular hospitals. Of course, human error is responsible for some deaths. But let us not be blind to the factors outside of the hospital that should be addressed by us.
We, therefore, would like to reiterate the doctors’ call today, that when expectant mothers notice some of the signs and symptoms of the disorder as mentioned above, the safest way out is to visit the hospital as soon as possible.
We also call upon every parent, those intending to be and other stakeholders, to pay attention to this condition claiming several lives. Prevention is better than cure!
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