Daily Times

PESHAWAR: Domestic unrest and stress could be a leading factor to complications during pregnancy and ultimately results in premature babies, doctors warn.

According to a report published in 2012, Pakistan was registered fourth for preterm births as many as 750,000 preterm births were registered during 2010, stated the report.

The mortality rate of pregnant women ranged from 300 to 700 out of 100,000 cases, worst in South Asia, the report stated.

Dr Dur-e-Shahwar, a gynecologist, runs her own private clinic in Peshawar argued that premature births can be caused by multiple factors but one could not ignore domestic unrest, physical and mental stress in this regard.

She added that pregnant woman living in an unhappy household may suffer with early, weak, underweight and preterm babies’ birth. She said that majority of her patients who visit her had a history of domestic violence, mental and physical abuse committed against them which always resulted into the premature babies.

According to a report published in 2009 by the Human Rights Watch, as many as 70 to 90 per cent of women in Pakistan have suffered some form of physical and mental abuse.

Dr Dur-e-Shahwar explains, “Everyone wants a happy child and happy children grow from happy babies.” She stressed that an expectant mother should be kept happy and well taken care of as everything around her makes her happy and relaxed or vice versa.

She advised that an expecting mother should be encouraged to seek help if she felt depressed, nervous or tense as “her situation endangers both the health of the mother and the baby.”

Talking to Daily Times, Mahjabeen, 25, an afghan refugee in Peshawar, claimed that stress and unrest at home cost her preterm delivery of her third baby. She said that her husband worked in a foreign country and she always felt alone and depressed due to his absence.

She added that she lived with her in laws-a large family of some 20 individuals. “Not a single day would pass without facing a household problem while I was pregnant,” she said, adding, “I could not manage the mental stress during pregnancy which ultimately caused the premature birth of my baby.”

According to medical experts, as many as 276 women die out of every 100,000 women while giving birth to babies in Pakistan. Some practitioners claim the figure is even higher in remote rural areas where health facilities were equal to none.

According to them, maternal mortality goes as high as 700 to 1000 out of 100,000 cases in remote areas.

Maryam Afridi, a psychologist, says that trauma caused by violence is a common and significant complication of pregnancy, involving 5 to 20 percent of pregnancies.

She went on to say that trauma was more likely to cause maternal deaths than any other medical complication during pregnancy.

Furthermore, she lamented, “Hospitals across Peshawar lacked trauma centers or even a psychologist to facilitate and guide the expecting mothers during pregnancy.” Maryam Afridi advised that expectant mothers had many issues which should be properly taken care of regularly to make them relaxed and keep them healthy.