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In many rural areas, less than 1/2 of women receive pre-natal care.
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Lack of prenatal care leads to high fetal complications including anemia, neural tube defects and infection including HIV. Without treatment, maternal-to-child-transmission of HIV is up to 45%. With treatment, this can be reduced to less than 2%.
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Ultrasound has been proven to attract mothers to the clinics.
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Some studies suggest antenatal visit rates increase by 40% when a clinic is able to offer ultrasound. They want to find out the sex of the baby. They want to see their baby's hands and feet!
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Once the mother is in the clinic, they get ultrasound, tested for HIV, antiretrovirals if necessary, pre-natal vitamins, etc.
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A woman in sub-Saharan Africa has a 1 out of 16 chance of dying during childbirth. In the USA, this number is 1 out of 8000. The most common cause is materal bleeding after delivery. Ultrasound assists in planning the safest route of delivery, which in some cases is a scheduled C-section as in the case of placenta previa where the placenta covers the cervix and leads to life threatening hemorrhage for both mom and baby if vaginal birth is attempted. Referrals to delivery wards where C-Section is available has been shown to dramatically increase when ultrasound is available
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Ultimately, lives are saved through the utilization of ultrasound in antenatal appointments
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