Dr. Garang Dakjur, President Association of Gynaecologists and Obstetricians of South Sudan during the first Scientific conference in Juba. (Photo: Charles Wote: Eye Media/Eye Radio).

At least 1,150 women still die due to bleeding after every 100,000 live births in South Sudan, the President of the Association of Gynecologists in the country has revealed in a report.

Dr. Garang Dakjur revealed the statistics during the first annual scientific conference of the Association of Gynecologists and Obstetricians in Juba on Saturday.

He attributed the significant maternal mortality to numerous factors such as limited blood transfusion services in most of the facilities.  

“So if you compare with Ethiopia, you will get Ethiopia is around 400, and the causes of maternal mortality in South Sudan, you will get most of the cases are related to hemorrhage,” he said.

“Our mothers are dying because of bleeding so what is the problem, the problem is most of our health settings are not having blood transfusion services. Even the facilities that are having blood transfusion services are not even getting blood.”

Dr. Dakjur added that early pregnancy, low payment of healthcare workers, and limited donation of blood are contributing factors to the situation.

The statistic has gone up from 789 deaths amongst 100,000 births in 2021, which also ranked the country’s maternal mortality rate as one of the highest in the world.

According to the Borgen Project, the probability of death when giving birth is higher when a woman is in poverty.

For his part, the Vice President for Service Cluster Hussein Abdelbagi said the government is working to address some of the challenges facing the health sector in the country.

“We as the policymakers are working tirelessly to formulate policies, to align with international guidance which will provide a conducive working environment for medical personnel and scientists, to allow unhindered medical service delivered to our needy population,” he said.

Speaking to the conference of Gynecologists and Obstetricians in Juba, Abdelbagi “we are also working to improve the working conditions of civil servants in general and health workers in particular.”