AIMS IrelandIreland’s Maternal Death Rate – Depends on who you are asking.
From the AIMS Ireland blog, Ireland: No Country For Pregnant Women: http://nocountryforpregnantwomen.blogspot.ie/2015/01/irelands-maternal-death-rate-depends-on.html
In Today’s Irish Times, John Fitzgerald shares a piece on CSO statistics for Ireland called, ‘Vital Statistics’ sheds light on inequalities in life expectancy”. The articles states, “While the death rate also fell in the Republic, it was not till the late 1970s that it reached the UK level. Today, in spite of recent tragedies that have received significant media attention, the maternal death rate is very low, at about three per 100,000 births, marginally lower than that in Northern Ireland, England and Wales.”
The Maternal Death Enquiry (MDE) Ireland has reported a rate of 8 per 100,000 in their recent report with specific mention to issues in the classification and collection of data, with general hospitals and the Irish coroner system both cited as areas which lead to under-reporting. As described here in the most recent MDE Ireland report (2009-2011):
In the case of Death Notification Forms, a review of MDE cases to date has shown that the question on pregnancy status has been not being correctly completed in some cases. Review of death certificates issued by the GRO office, following receipt of a Coroner’s certificate,dentified information on current or recent pregnancy was absent in many cases of indirect maternal deaths. These issues clearly impact on ascertainment of reliable maternal mortality
data.”
From MDE Ireland’s 2009-2011 report regarding CSO figures:
coincidental maternal deaths were identified by the CSO.”
Despite these noted inaccuracies, flaws and numerous reports of Ireland’s true maternal death rate, it is the CSO figures which are regularly quoted by Government and Political representatives. We’ve all heard the ‘Ireland is the safest place to have a baby’ speeches, however, what most of us don’t realise is that that with a maternal death rate of 8 per 100,000 we are on par with many of our EU counterparts and actually ranks worse than others. For example:
France 8 per 100,000
UK 10 per 100,000
Germany 7 per 100,000
Belgium 5 per 100,000
AIMS Ireland’s position: