MORTALIDAD MATERNA EN EL ECUADOR, CONTEXTO DE PRE PANDEMIA Y PANDEMIA COVID 19

The death of a woman during pregnancy, childbirth, or puerperium is undoubtedly a phenomenon that occurs everywhere in the world, reflecting the great socioeconomic in-equalities and access to health services. The general objective is to present in detail the epidemiological context of maternal mortality in Ecuador during the pre-pandemic and pandemic periods. Is an observational, descriptive study. The analysis included 548 cases of maternal mortality, anonymized and registered on the Internet in the Maternal Death Gazette of the Ecuadorian Ministry of Public Health. The pre-pandemic period was the cases reported in 2018 and 2019, and the pandemic period was the cases in 2020 and 2021. A descriptive analysis was performed with frequencies and percentages. Of the 548 cases, it was identified that the percentage of 82.9 of Maternal Deaths (MDs) occurred in young adults, 44.4% were multiple births, 61.9% underwent cesarean section, and 87.5% died during the postpartum period. Zone 8 and Guayas province accounted for 21.5% and 33.4% of deaths, respectively. The maternal mortality ratio (MDR) increased to 57.6 MD in 2020; 65.6% of MD occurred in the public network; direct MD was the most common with 65.3%, both before and during the pandemic. Hypertensive pregnancy disorders were the most common cause of MD at 26.5%.