TITLE:
Pregnancy Outcomes of the Internally Displaced Women in Juba, South Sudan
AUTHORS:
Sarah Mustafa, Projestine S. Muganyizi, Anthony Lupai, Belinda S. Balandya
KEYWORDS:
Pregnancy Outcome, Maternal Outcome, Internally Displaced, Internal Conflict, Camp, South Sudan
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology,
Vol.9 No.3,
March
1,
2019
ABSTRACT: Background: Conflict and displacement substantially affect maternal reproductive
health by increasing the risks formorbidity and mortality. However, most
literature on pregnancy outcomes is from cross-border refugees and migrants. To
date, scanty literature is available on pregnancy outcomes of internally
displaced women. South Sudan, with 16 women dying daily is badly affected by
internal conflicts of which by the end of December 2013 about 2.2 million
people were internally displaced. The aim of this study was to determine
pregnancy outcomes of women living in the United Nations House Internally
Displaced People (UN IDP) camp and factors associated with poor outcomes. The
study was ethically cleared by MUHAS and the Ministry of Health in South Sudan. Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted in UN House IDP Camp in
Juba among internally displaced women who attended antenatal
services in the camp, from September to November 2016. Among them, women who
became pregnant in last 3 years, excluding the index, were interviewed about
their immediate past pregnancy experiences. Additionally, the women were
interviewed on reproductive health and gender violence matters. Interviews were
guided by a structured questionnaire. Data were analyzed using SPSS software
version 20. Descriptive and multivariate logistic regression analyses were computed
for associations with poor pregnancy outcome. Results: A total of 300
internally displaced women participated in the study. Data
for 289 participants were analyzed for poor pregnancy outcome. More than half
of the women, 157 (54.3%), had poor pregnancy outcome. Poor Maternal outcome
was established in 47% of the women and poor fetal outcome in 27.7%. Delivery
in IDP camp compared with outside the camp, was independently associated with a
3-fold increase in risk for poor pregnancy outcome, OR = 2.9
(95% CI: 1.47 - 5.56). Conclusion: The prevalence of poor
pregnancy outcome is unacceptably high among internally displaced women seeking
antenatal services in the IDP camp in Juba and delivery in the camp seems to
increase the risk.