Reducing maternal mortality is one of the Brazilian goals within the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda headed by the United Nations (UN). In Rio Grande do Norte, the Public Health State Secretariat (Sesap) intends to invest R$ 250 million in the restructuring of the NB's maternal network over the next few years.

A reference in strategies for reducing maternal and child mortality, the ISD has closely followed this discussion: on Tuesday (13), the director of the Institute, Reginaldo Freitas, participated in the first of seven workshops that will be held with a consultant from the Organization Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) to implement strategies to eliminate maternal mortality in the state. He also monitored the implementation of the Zero Death by Hemorrhage Strategy in the states of Maranhão, Piauí, Pernambuco, Minas Gerais and São Paulo.

“Seeing it happen in Rio Grande do Norte is a dream that has now come true and renews our hopes at a critical moment for our state, when the Covid-19 pandemic magnified the tragedy of maternal mortality among us. It is with great sadness that we find that the number of maternal deaths in the first half of 2021 already exceeds all deaths that occurred last year.”, said Reginaldo.

Sesap and PAHO will jointly formulate actions to improve four points: access and coverage of services, interventions for health teams, information and communication system. The processes will revolve around the 54 health services identified by Sesap as places where children are born in the RN. Only 18 of these are structured services with 24-hour care, complete staff and surgical center, and are also responsible for more than 80% of births.

“The workshop is part of the work of the Plan to Reduce Maternal and Childhood Mortality, launched in May. We need to reduce death from hemorrhage, these are numbers that represent tragedies for several families. As managers, we are aware of the problem and dedicated to resolving the situation, we hope that we can come out of these two days more motivated and qualified”, commented the Secretary of State for Public Health, Cipriano Maia. 

Maternal Mortality Reduction Plan 

The ISD will assist the state government in the construction and implementation of permanent health education strategies to improve assistance to the population and, consequently, reduce maternal and infant mortality rates in the state. 

The project is envisaged in Maternal and Child Mortality Reduction Plan, and will start in Macaíba, the municipality where the Institute is based, with prospects for expansion to other regions of the state.

Within the Plan, it will be responsible for helping to develop the Permanent Health Education strategy aimed at qualifying hospital obstetric care, initially at the Alfredo Mesquita Filho Regional Hospital, in Macaíba.