Health ‌workers say that misplaced anxiety about contact with Ebola is the primary reason women are forgoing crucial prenatal care and opting to give birth at home and dying more often in the event of complications.

There is still limited data available but figures for Ituri province are raising alarm.

United Nations figures show that maternal deaths in Ituri province soared nearly 70% between May and July compared with a year ​earlier, a troubling indicator of the impact of the Ebola outbreak, currently DRC’s worst on record on the primary healthcare system.

Steep international aid cuts have also ​led to shortages of some life-saving medications.

–Reuters–