Cape Town - Women with unplanned pregnancies are more likely to have negative maternal health outcomes with more chances of developing antenatal and postnatal depression.
According to a study conducted in Malawi, not only were unplanned pregnancies associated with negative emotions and failure to seek antenatal care, but even after their babies were born, women were less likely to take preventative measures beneficial to their babies’ health.
These included having their babies vaccinated, and failing to inoculate them against deadly diseases such as tuberculosis and malaria.
Addressing delegates attending the ninth World Congress on Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (Dohad) at the Cape Town International Convention Centre, Dr Jennifer Hall of the Institute for Global Health and University of Malawi, said pregnancy intention or planning was associated with a range of maternal behaviours and uptake of preventative practices, both pre-birth and postnatally.
This, she said, had implications for the long-term health of a child.
However, women who had planned their pregnancies had positive health outcomes, and were more likely to attend antenatal care and less likely to experience health problems.
The congress’s theme is Combating the Transgenerational Risks of Non-communicable Disease in Transitioning Societies, and will be held over four days.
More than 1 200 child health specialists, obstetricians, public health specialists and scientists from around the world would be in attendance discussing maternal and environmental factors and their relation to foetal development and child health.
The delegation yesterday also heard that improving adolescent health – particularly in the body mass index (BMI) of women before pregnancy – could reduce incidences of diseases such as type 2 diabetes.
Addressing the meeting, Professor Kathleen Kahn from Wits University and the Medical Research Council, said teenagers who were often stunted as children were more likely to be obese as adults.
This was found in a study conducted in a rural community in Mpumalanga.
The study also found that if teenagers fell pregnant while their BMI was either too low or too high, this often negatively impacted on their babies who were likely to inherit their mothers’ health conditions.
“Improving adolescent health, particularly reducing the wide variance in pre-pregnancy BMI, can reduce rates of non-communicable diseases.”
Cape Argus