Perinatal health: Public Health Agency France is sounding alarm

The National Public Health Agency brings together for the first time a good number of data relating to this subject, and points to a worrying evolution over the 2010-2019 decade.

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A “worrying situation of perinatal health in France”. A fairly alarmist tone accompanies the publication by Public Health France (SPF), Tuesday, September 20, with a set of indicators concerning perinatal health – that is what touches the health of pregnant women, the fetus and the newborn , from pregnancy to postpartum. By relying in particular on INSEE data, those from the coding of acts in the hospital and results of various studies, the National Agency of Public Health offers an unprecedented photograph of the evolution of the health For ten years, from 2010 to 2019.

A pre-Cavid era therefore, observed here with a common thread: that of health inequalities. While recognizing a “high and stable” level of care, the report testifies in fact of great territorial heterogeneity, with a particularly disturbing situation in Mayotte and Guyana. In accordance in recent years, the figures of neonatal mortality – which corresponds to the deaths of newborns from birth to their 27 day – are one of the alert points of this work, intended to clarify the public authorities in their prevention actions.

On this subject, but also on others, such as the first causes of maternal mortality that constitute cardiovascular diseases and mental health, “we must react fairly quickly, and in particular on prevention, from the desire to child “, say the authors of the report.

increase in neonatal mortality

This is one of the alarming observations of the 162 -page document, which confirms the results of recent scientific publications: neonatal mortality has increased in recent years, going from 1.6 deaths per 1,000 births in 2010 to 1 , 8 in 2019, in mainland France. The rise focuses on the first week of life, “which raises the question of access to care, monitoring of pregnancy and support for women after birth”, notes one of the authors, Doctor Anne Gallay, Director of non -transmitted diseases and trauma at SPF.

In the overseas departments and regions, the situation is twice as critical: between 3.3 and 4.4 deaths per 1,000 births are recorded, depending on the year, during the decade observed. It is a “worrying result”, points SPF, which confirms that France is “peloton tail” on this indicator compared to its European neighbors. How to explain it? At this point, few answers. “Work is underway to try to understand this worrying development,” said Nolwenn Regnault, another author of the report, responsible for the perinatal unit, early childhood and mental health at SPF.

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/Media reports.