Anaemia and Pregnancy
Anaemia has a very strong link with postpartum haemorrhage (excessive vaginal bleeding after delivery), and the risk of death or near miss is very high.
As per the study, by the WOMAN (World Maternal Antifibrinolytic )-2 trial collaborators, worldwide, more than half a billion women of reproductive age are anaemic.
Each year, about 70,000 women who give birth die from postpartum haemorrhage, almost all of them in low-and middle-income countries.
There was clear evidence from the study that lower haemoglobin values had a direct relationship with volume blood loss, and clinical postpartum haemorrhage.
With decreasing maternal haemoglobin concentration, the risk of postpartum haemorrhage increases monotonically.
Anaemia reportedly reduces the oxygen-carrying capacity of blood, and therefore, women with anaemia cannot tolerate the same volume of bleeding as healthy women, and become shocked after a smaller volume blood loss.
The mean estimated blood loss post delivery was 301 mL for women with moderate anaemia and 340 mL for women with severe anaemia.
The risk of clinical postpartum haemorrhage was 6.2% in women with moderate anaemia and higher, 11.2% in women with severe anaemia.
Prevention of anemia
The Indian government has a well-structured project to provide weekly iron and folic acid supplements to adolescent girls (and boys), in order to tackle the looming crisis of anaemia.
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