The University of Jordan (UJ) hosted on Wednesday a dialogue session on the fourth national report on maternal mortality of the year 2021 under the patronage of UJ President, Prof. Nathir Obeidat, and in presence of UJ's vice presidents, deans and faculty of health schools, with the participation of representatives from the various health sectors.
The event, titled "Maternal Deaths: Learning from Every Loss", discussed the findings of the report, which was developed by the Ministry of Health and the Maternal Mortality National Advisory Group with support from USAID Health Services Quality Accelerator and is intended to provide an opportunity to strengthen the Jordanian health system, with the aim of eliminating preventable maternal deaths and improving maternal health outcomes.
The discussion aims to support national efforts to implement rapid response plans to reduce the number of maternal losses; The data and findings presented in the report are drawn from Jordan’s Maternal Mortality Surveillance and Response (JMMSR) system implemented by the Ministry of Health and launched with the support of the USAID.
Chairman of the JMMSR National Advisory Group, Dr. AbdelMane' Al-Suleimat, announced the findings of this year's report, explaining that during the reporting period (January-December 2021) 1,871 deaths among women of reproductive age occurred, of which 160 maternal deaths were identified, adding that COVID-19 infection caused 104 deaths out of the 160 reported deaths.
In his presentation, Al-Suleimat concluded that the total number of live births for the same period was 187,722, with national Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) estimated at 85.2 per 100,000 live births, revealing that 2021 MMR figure was about 2.2, 2.6, and 2.9 times higher than the MMRs in 2020, 2019, and 2018, respectively.
The first discussion addressed maternal mortality's reflections on clinical practices, while the second one discussed its implications on research, education and health policies.