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Health Concerns of Pregnant Women and Infants in Times of Natural Disasters

Pregnant women and infants have special health needs in the aftermath of natural disasters, such as hurricanes. An estimated 56,000 pregnant women and 75,000 infants were directly affected by Hurricane Katrina.

This report uses Hurricane Katrina as an example to show the needs of pregnant women and infants during times of natural disasters. It offers ideas to help disaster response planners better meet the needs of pregnant women.

After a disaster, safe food and clean water for drinking and bathing might not be available. People might be exposed to toxins in the environment, and they might need to stay in crowded shelters where health care and public health services might be hard to find. All of these conditions can result in risks for pregnant women and infants.

The following actions can help disaster response planners better meet the health needs of pregnant women and infants:

• When a woman checks into a shelter or medical facility, she should be asked if she might be pregnant. If a woman thinks she might be or doesn’t know if she could be pregnant, a urine pregnancy test should be done. Pregnant women should be referred for prenatal care right away.
• Health care providers who usually don’t treat pregnant women should be taught how to assess their needs and assign proper care.
• Contraception should be made available to women who have been evacuated to aid them in avoiding unplanned pregnancies.
• Mothers who are breastfeeding should be encouraged to continue doing so.
• Women and their health care providers should be informed how exposures related to the disaster could affect a pregnancy. Exposures might include vaccinations (shots) and medications used in the public health response.
• If possible, a pregnancy registry should be set up early during the event to track outcomes for pregnant women.
• Medical teams and other response teams should be trained to manage the care of pregnant and breastfeeding women and their infants.

When a disaster like a hurricane is coming, pregnant women and women with infants can take steps to get ready. If there is enough warning, they should get copies of their medical records, make sure they have extra supplies of necessary medications, and have a supply of ready-to-feed formula if breastfeeding is not an option.

Callaghan WM, Rasmussen SA, Farr S, Jamieson D, Sutton PD, Mathews TJ, et al. Health concerns of women and infants in times of natural disasters: lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina. Matern Child Health J. 2007;11(4):307–11.
 

Date: January 14, 2008
Content source: National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities