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ra tes raises serious doubts about the safety of t he episiotomy
procedure in this pa rt o f the world . Data on the outcomes of
episiotomy are, however , very lacking from most parts of the
developing wo r l d . As this is an isolated study, more da t a are
needed to examine the true extent of this p r oble m.
I f we consider this study s ample as representative of the
majority of women delivering in Kumas! the resul t.s of thi s
study suggest that abo ut one in every five women who deliver
in the district develop a genital t r act infection in their
early puerpe ral period. This postpartum genital tract
i nf ec t i on is certainly t he major cause of puerperal ill-health
in these wamen .
Many researchers ha ve reported that postpartum genital
tract infections contribute s Lqn Lf Loa r rt.Ly to the high rates of
infertility not ed on t he c ontinent ; particularl y to t h e h i gh
secondary i n f ert i lit y rates {54, 65] . The high rates of
" ne g l e c t e d " UGTI noted in t his atudy support these
observations .
Preventing or controlling pue r peral genital tract
i nfection in t hes e women would go a very l on g ....a y t o reducing
the overall ma terna l mo r b i d i t y an d mortality r a tes in t he
region. I t could a lso contibute ge nerally to improving t he
he a l th of all women .