ABU DHABI // Women’s health is being put at risk by back-to-back pregnancies and a lack of regular medical examinations.
Despite a number of awareness campaigns targeting women, many continue to ignore the warnings because of family pressure, not having health insurance or living too far from a health centre.
Doctors also say many women continue to give priority to their family and career, leaving their health to deteriorate, often to a critical degree.
Sultan Al Sammahi, a Federal National Council member from Fujairah and a member of the council's health committee, blamed variations in health care between emirates and called for women to undergo routine medical examinations twice a year.
Dr Bachar Abduh, a specialist in obstetrics and gynaecology at Al Noor Hospital, said it was common to see women appearing at the labour ward just to give birth, with no previous medical checks or prenatal care.
“These are mostly Arabs, sadly,” he said. “No insurance, lack of awareness, being away from a hospital or a clinic, or just not knowing the importance of follow-up, all play a role. If this continues, the mortality rate will not decrease.”
He said complications were more probable in such instances.
Dr Hiam Ahmed Harfoush, an obstetrics and gynaecology specialist at Burjeel Hospital, sees similar cases. “Another thing that’s very important – the patients run between many clinics so they don’t have the proper advice,” she said. “They come for one visit, two visits.
“I see some coming just before delivery when early check-ups are vital to know if the woman has a high-risk or a low-risk pregnancy.”
When patients are asked why they have ignored their appointments, she said the usual excuses were an absence of health insurance, family interference and work commitments.
Dr Abduh said another issue physicians faced was women, again mostly Arab, unwilling to leave a long enough gap between pregnancies.
“It is vital that the time between each pregnancy is three years so women’s health does not suffer,” he said.
Spacing pregnancies too close together can rob women of essential nutrients and put them at higher risk of postpartum haemorrhage.
“This can be life threatening,” Dr Harfoush said, and sometimes a hysterectomy was necessary.
The average number of births per woman in the UAE is 2.37, but Emirati and Arab families in general have opted to have more children, meaning less time between pregnancies.
Dr Ahmad Alomosh, chairman of the sociology department at the University of Sharjah, said because men played a pivotal role in Arab societies, “women are always encouraged to bring more children, particularly boys”.
“If someone dies, someone will carry the family name,” he said.
He said it was also a norm in Arab societies for women to put their family first.
“This affects the health and happiness of women,” he said. “Women need to disconnect themselves in some instances to look after themselves. If the children fail, she feels like she has failed. Sometimes the father even blames the mother if the child fails, whereas success would be pinned on the father.”
Dr Abduh said many women neglected to use proper birth control, which also played a role in frequent pregnancies.
With the understanding that some families prefer to have many children in a short period of time, Dr Abduh said the only solution would be for women to take supplements continuously, mainly folic acid, vitamin D and iron, even between pregnancies.
He said it was also difficult to persuade some women to return to the hospital for postnatal check-ups.
Mona Al Bahar, an FNC member from Dubai, suggested building a special women and children’s hospital to reinforce the importance of women’s health.
osalem@thenational.ae
