Maternal death and abortion due to malaria

• April 23, 2024

Malaria or malaria has different consequences for men and women. In African countries where the disease is endemic, women experience it more difficult.

During pregnancy, for example, malaria is an important cause of maternal mortality, spontaneous abortion and intrauterine death, in addition to contributing significantly to the development of chronic anemia in pregnant women.

In addition to this circumstance, the infection coexists with extreme poverty, malnutrition and lack of access to prenatal care, as well as other health care.

Some studies reveal that the search for treatment tends to be later in women than in affected men, either because of lack of time, or because of the impossibility of leaving their children in other hands.

In her essay "Communicable diseases, gender and health equity", Dr. Pamela Hartigan, director of the Skoll Center for Social Entrepreneurship of the Said Business School of the Oxford University, points out that in health programs aimed at reducing malaria in the endemic areas are trying to convince women to ensure the protection of their families, especially their young children, against the disease.
 

Another responsibility for women

"For example, it is known that mosquito nets impregnated with insecticides protect effectively from malaria in endemic areas, so control programs seek to induce women, not men, to wash and impregnate mosquito nets" .

However, Hartigan adds, efforts to teach mothers to detect and intervene in the early stages of the disease often forget that women may not have control over acquiring mosquito nets or anti-malarial drugs.

"Malaria prevention programs, like other disease control programs, often ignore the multiplicity of tasks faced by women in situations of scarce resources and may inadvertently exacerbate gender inequality and inequality. the woman's feeling that she is only valued as long as she is a mother and a caregiver. "

Biology, gender and socio-economic circumstances are responsible, to a large extent, for the difficult situation faced by women who have to face malaria, every day of their lives.