'NCD-associated health issues among prevalent causes of maternal death'

Health conditions associated with non-communicable diseases (NCD) were found to be one of the most prevalent causes contributing to the rising maternal mortality rate in Malaysia, said Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa.

She said a study conducted from 2019 to 2021 recorded the highest maternal mortality rate on a three-year average, mostly due to NCD-associated medical conditions and post-partum haemorrhage.

“Among mothers with NCD-associated medical conditions, more than 50 percent of deaths were due to heart diseases.

“In addition, obesity was the main risk factor found among maternal deaths due to Pulmonary Embolism after a caesarean procedure,” she said.

Zaliha said this during her presentation at the 56th Malaysia Singapore Congress of Medicine which was held in conjunction with MyWomen International Congress 2023 today.

Zaliha said in order to reduce the maternal mortality rate, the Health Ministry has been strengthening the pre-pregnancy care (PPC) and venous thromboembolism (VTE) risk assessment and prescribing thromboprophylaxis for pregnant women.

On another development, Zaliha said as of June, there have been 105,789 individuals who had undergone health screenings at the ministry’s facilities under the National Health Screening Initiative, a year into the programme since it was launched in July last year.

Interestingly, she said out of the 105,789 individuals, 58,441 or 55.24 percent of them are women, and it indicated better health-seeking behaviours among women nowadays.

“As for states with more than 50 percent of women screened, Selangor tops the list at 61.9 percent, while Penang is the lowest at 55.5 percent,” she added.

- Bernama