A mother watches over her newborn in an incubator at the Kherson City Perinatal Centre in Ukraine. (file)
This article is published in association with United Nations.
Pregnant women took shelter in a bunkerised maternity unit in the Ukrainian city of Kherson last week, after a hospital was struck just 1.5 km from the frontline.
The incident comes amid alarming new data from the UN’s reproductive health agency (UNFPA), showing a sharp rise in the risk of dying in pregnancy or childbirth in Ukraine, which is nearing its fourth year of conflict after Russia’s full-scale invasion.
“Our latest analysis shows a sharp deterioration in maternal health across Ukraine,” said Florence Bauer, UNFPA’s regional director.
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Kherson remains one of Ukraine’s most vulnerable cities because it sits on the Dnipro River directly opposite Russian-held territory.
Although Ukrainian forces recaptured the city in late 2022, it has since endured near-daily shelling from positions just across the water.
Civilian sites, including hospitals, are frequently hit, leaving health workers with little warning and forcing essential services like maternity wards to operate underground.
Rules of war
“Safe childbirth must be protected even in war, and international humanitarian law is clear: health facilities, health workers and humanitarian access must never be targeted,” Ms. Bauer stressed.
Since 2022, more than 80 maternity and neonatal facilities have been damaged or destroyed, among the 2,763 healthcare sites hit nationwide, according to UNFPA.
All personnel and patients who hid in the agency-supported bunker during last week’s harrowing incident, were unharmed and a baby girl was safely delivered during the attack. ‘Disturbing’ trends across the country, however, remain.
Life-threatening complications
UNFPA’s analysis of data from 2023 to 2024 indicates that despite fewer births, a higher proportion of pregnancies in the country are now affected by severe medical complications.
Uterine ruptures, one of the most life-threatening emergencies, increased by more than 44 per cent, while hypertensive disorders, like high blood pressure, went up by 12 per cent.
Caesarean sections, or surgical childbirth, not only remain high but exceed the World Health Organization’s recommended levels as the organization says unnecessary procedures of the sort may put the lives of women and their babies at risk.
The rate of caesarean sections in Kherson is currently 46 per cent, according to UNFPA; WHO recommends no more than 15 per cent (15 per 100 births).
Birth under bombardment
With power cuts, medical supply shortages and equipment damage now routine, humanitarian aid is often the only lifeline keeping women and premature newborns alive.
© UNFPA/Olha Lavryk
With support from UNFPA, the maternity ward of Kherson City Perinatal Centre was rebuilt within a bunker.
UNFPA provides mobile incubators, sterile neonatal equipment and vital medicines to help premature babies breathe.
To ensure women can give birth safely even under bombardment, UNFPA also supports the construction of underground, bomb-proof maternity wards.
The special underground maternity units in the Kherson City Perinatal Centre and the Kharkiv Regional Perinatal Centre are the first of their kind in Ukraine.
UNFPA is calling for $52 million to keep maternal health and protection services functioning in the country throughout the coming year.
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