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Download AudioA mental health educator for Perinatal Anxiety and Depression Aotearoa says the health system is dropping the ball on the single largest cause of maternal death in this country.
Joanne Teina says suicide accounts for most maternal deaths, and over 57 percent of those deaths are wahine Maori.
She says report after report has highlighted the problems, but the investment promised for services and especially kaupapa Maori services hasn’t come though.
A call for mental health screening isn’t working because midwives don’t know how to ask the questions.
“The workforce is burnt out so when you know you are going to screen and there somebody who is going to require some support with their mental health and you are struggling with their own mental health because you are on the verge of burn out, I get it why they don’t ask the questions but we wouldn’t not screen for diabetes, we wouldn’t not take a blood pressure and this is the leading cause of maternal death,” Ms Teina says.
She says part of the problem is the recommended Edinburgh postnatal depression screening tool, isn’t a good fit for indigenous communities.
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