EBOLA: Pregnant women at risk of becoming collateral casualties to Ebola epidemic

The health of mothers and infants has long been a concern in many West African nations. Research conducted over a decade ago found that maternal mortality rates in the region was among the worst in the world.

For years, aid and development groups have worked hard to improve that situation. Progress has been slow. In 2009, UNICEF said that little headway had been made in West and Central Africa maternal mortality rates since the 1990s.

In the past few years, however, some countries had had some small successes: In 2013, Liberia reported a modest reduction in both maternal and infant mortality rates, for example.

Ebola may prove a major setback. The latest outbreak is causing a major disruption to the health-care system, and there are numerous signs that pregnant women in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea could be dying due to Ebola without ever getting the disease.

For a glimpse of the problem, read this anecdote from The Post's report on how regular medical treatment is being disrupted by Ebola:

As a Washington Post photographer watched one day last week, a woman in labor arrived at the JFK Ebola treatment center in a taxi, sent by workers at the hospital’s recently reopened maternity ward because she had no evidence that she was free of Ebola.

But no one came to the Ebola facility’s gate — and even if someone had, the woman’s chances of gaining entry were next to zero. With no evidence that she had Ebola, the isolation center would not bring her inside among those who have the virus.

The story highlights one significant aspect of the problem: Maternity hospitals are fearful of taking women in due to the risk of catching Ebola from a sick patient. That fear is understandable. Hundreds of health-care workers have been infected with Ebola recently, and many were infected by the patients they treat.

Bruce Aylward, assistant director-general for polio and emergencies at the World Health Organization, said that at first, most health workers who died were people working in "poorly run Ebola treatment centers." However, as the disease spread, it began to affect the broader health community. "Now, if you look at [health-care workers infected with Ebola], they're somebody who is delivering a baby in a clinic that had nothing to do with Ebola," Aylward explained. The shift has affected both local and foreign doctors: Rick Sacra, one of the American doctors who contracted Ebola, was treating pregnant women in Liberia when he became infected (he has since made a full recovery).