Dramatic increase in pregnant women losing their babies is because of limited medical supplies and access to health centres, putting them at increased risk of infection.
Some 17,000 women have given birth in horrific circumstances in Gaza in nearly 100 days of conflict. A collapsing healthcare, malnutrition, and the lack of clean water threaten their lives and those of their babies, according to a statement issued by humanitarian agency CARE about a week ago.
Lately, Nour Beydoun, regional adviser on protection and gender in emergencies for humanitarian agency CARE, told US news site Jezebel miscarriages are also up because pregnant women lack proper food and nutrition, resulting in poor fetal health, Al Jazeera reports.
“All pregnant women are now at severe risk of delivering in unsafe conditions, being put in situations where they are giving birth in cars, tents, and shelters,” Ammal Awadallah, executive director of the Palestinian Family Planning & Protection Association, has been cited as saying by Al Jazeera.
Many births and even C-sections are “being performed without basic medical supplies, or anesthesia and without any postnatal care”, Awadallah said. “There’s now so much risk of haemorrhaging and infections without the right tools and medicines.”