MORE pregnant women are abusing drugs and alcohol, with the incidence of substance use at Mowbray Maternity Hospital increasing almost threefold over the past five years, the provincial Health Department says.
The drug of choice for expecting mothers at this hospital is tik, it said.
With more than 10 000 deliveries annually, Mowbray Maternity Hospital is the largest dedicated maternity hospital in South Africa and has also reported that more women with complicated pregnancies, and other health conditions, including hypertension (high blood pressure), tuberculosis (TB) and HIV/Aids have been referred to the facility.
Other regional hospitals, including Worcester and George, who respectively have about 3 000 births annually, said tobacco is the number one maternal substance use.
Health MEC Nomafrench Mbombo said: “Substance abuse disorders are extremely high in the Western Cape, with smoking tobacco, alcohol and methamphetamine (tik) being the top three substances used by expecting mothers.
“Alcohol and methamphetamine being the most prevalent among mothers who haven’t attended antenatal programmes, which is essential for all expecting mothers to attend during their pregnancy.”
Using these substances increases the risk of premature delivery, birth deformities and stillbirth. It can also cause irreversible abnormalities of the baby’s heart, brain, kidneys and digestive system.
Babies are also born with severe withdrawal symptoms after birth often making them tremble, cry incessantly and have difficulty with breathing, sucking and swallowing, the department said.
Hereditary abnormalities, poverty and homelessness leads to a high intake of babies having to be kept in the postnatal department of public health facilities, which puts added pressure on health and maternity services, Mbombo said.
South African Medical Research Council senior scientist Liezille Jacobs, of the Violence, Injury and Peace Research Unit, said alarmingly, according to a foetal alcohol spectrum disorders' (FASD) situation and gap analysis, FASD is inter- generational.
“This term refers to a woman who was exposed to alcohol in utero, who had life exposure to an environment of excessive alcohol use.
"Such a person is therefore at a higher risk for early alcohol abuse and unplanned pregnancies, with the higher risk of having a child with FASD.”
Available research indicates that children living in rural areas are at higher risk for FASD than urban-dwelling children.
In Wellington, the prevalence of Grade 1 pupils affected with foetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) and FASD were 46 for every 1 000 children in 1997 and 75 for every 1 000 as reported in 2008, Jacobs said.
To assist mothers, the provincial departments of Health and Social Development recently launched the First 1 000 Days project, which focuses on raising awareness of the crucial early stages of a child’s life.
The Department of Social Development last year launched a women-only substance abuse in-patient treatment centre in Maitland to address the specific challenges facing females who are substance dependent.