Ebola is driving up maternal deaths as pregnant women in Congo avoid hospitals

Maternal deaths have doubled in the epicenter of Congo’s Ebola outbreak as pregnant women avoid hospitals and medical staff and supplies are diverted to fight the virus.

The disruption is leaving women vulnerable to otherwise treatable complications including preeclampsia, malaria and obstructed labor, even when they aren’t infected with Ebola, according to Paulina Ospina, director of maternal and child health with Direct Relief, a U.S.-based medical aid group.

“They’re not dying from Ebola,” Ospina said. “They’re dying from complications that are treatable.”