Addressing Maternal Health During CDC's Ebola Response in the United States

Abstract

Previous outbreaks suggest that pregnant women with Ebola virus disease (EVD) are at increased risk for severe disease and death. Healthcare workers who treat pregnant women with EVD are at increased risk of body fluid exposure. Despite the absence of pregnant women with EVD in the United States, CDC activated the Maternal Health Team (MHT), a functional unit dedicated to emergency preparedness and response issues, on October 18, 2014. We describe major activities of the MHT. A high-priority MHT activity was to publish guiding principles early in the response. The MHT also prepared guidance documents, provided guidance and technical support for hospital preparedness, and addressed inquiries. We analyzed maternal health inquiries received through CDC-INFO, MHT, and CDC’s Medical Investigations Team from August 2014 to December 2015. Internal call logs used to capture, monitor, and track inquiries for the three data sources were merged. Inquiries not related to maternal health issues and duplicates were removed. Each inquiry was categorized by route (email/phone), inquirer type, and topic. In total, 201 inquiries were received from clinicians, public health professionals, and the public. The predominant topic was related to infection control for high-risk situations such as labor and delivery. During the Ebola response, most inquiries were received via email rather than telephone, a notable shift compared to the H1N1 emergency response. Lessons learned during the H1N1 and Ebola responses are currently informing CDC’s Zika Response, an unprecedented emergency response primarily focused on reproductive health issues.

The effect of Ebola virus disease on maternal health service utilisation and perinatal outcomes in West Africa: a systematic review

“…The EVD outbreak disturbed the already weak maternal health services [ 32 , 33 ] due to ignorance, lack of supplies, or the shifting of health staff, equipment from the maternal service to EVD management [ 34 , 35 ] and shut down public health facilities [ 36 ]. Additionally, medical health care providers' deaths, the absence of health care providers, the fear of being exposed to body fluids at health facilities [ 37 , 38 ], and women’s belief that health facilities could be a source of Ebola transmission [ 39 , 40 ], along with a negative attitude about the staff [ 41 ], has disrupted maternal health service utilisation.…”