Labour and delivery are especially hazardous times of
pregnancy. Apart from the risks of severe bleeding and obstructed labour, life threatening infections can be introduced into the mother and baby’s organs and bloodstream.
‘Maternal sepsis’ is a general term which has been used to
include various obstetric and genito-urinary tract infections introduced into the mother [2]. The World Health
Organization ranks maternal sepsis as the sixth leading
cause of disease burden for women aged 15-44 years, after
depression, HIV/AIDs, tuberculosis, abortion and schizophrenia. As many as 5.2 million new cases of maternal
sepsis are thought to occur annually and an estimated
62,000 maternal deaths will result from the condition [2].
Added to the burden of loss of women’s lives caused by
sepsis are the long term consequences of infertility and
the association of maternal sepsis with over one million
infection related neonatal deaths every year [3,4