Some aspects of perinatal and maternal mortality in Albania.

OBJECTIVE

Evaluation of antenatal care, perinatal mortality, neonatal mortality, maternal mortality, number of births, the incidence of low birth weight infants in Albania.

DESIGN OF THE STUDY

Retrospective study.

SETTING

Queen Geraldine University Hospital of Tirana, Albania.

METHODS

The population of this country is estimated to be approximately 3,2 million and comprises very young people. Twenty five percent of the population is under 15 years of age and 46% is under 25 years [2]. The fertility rate in 2009 was 1.6 children per woman of childbearing age. The urban population accounts for 45% and the rural population for the remaining 55% of the total population [2]. The health care system is spread across nearly the entire territory and is classified as primary (villages and small towns), secondary (several cities) and tertiary (in the capital, University Hospital). Primary health care is provided at 2327 health care units. The chief activity of the family doctors and general practitioners working in such units are focused on providing health care for mother and children. Ten percent of the annual births are delivered at the Maternity Hospital of Tirana (tertiary care) which has 300 beds and another 40 beds particularly for premature infants. More than 50% of the high risk pregnancies from other districts are referred to the Maternity Hospital of Tirana.

RESULTS

The annual live births in Albania was in (2010) 33,856. The total perinatal mortality rate is 10,9 per 1000 live births. The total neonatal mortality rate in 2010 was 9.7 per 1000 live births. The early postnatal mortality rate was 6.1 per 1000 births. Number of maternal deaths for 100, 000 live births was 6.0 in 2010.