In 2023, the Bragança hospital’s maternity ward saw 38 more children born on its premises than in the previous year, which corresponds to an increase of ten percent.
According to figures provided to the Messenger by the Northeast Local Health Unit (ULS), the year 2023 reversed the decline seen in 2022, the year of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
In total, in 2023, 419 children were born in the ULS Trás-os-Montes maternity ward.
“In the period between 2019 and 2023, there was a trend of stability, with slight fluctuations, in terms of the number of births. Thus, in 2019, 486 newborns were registered, in 2020 the number stood at 441, in 2021 and 2022 381 were registered and in 2023 the number increased to 419 births”, informed the ULS.
In other words, the 38 more births that occurred in 2023 compared to 2022, correspond to an increase of almost ten percent. However, it is still far from the 486 that registered before the covid-19 pandemic, in 2019.
Even so, ULS Nordeste emphasizes that the situation remains stable in the region.
“Taking into account the population of childbearing age established in the region, the number of births at the ULS Maternity of the Northeast thus maintains a trend without significant fluctuations in the last five years”, highlights the written response sent to the Messenger of Bragança.
That entity emphasizes that pregnant women in the district are monitored in the region. “It should be noted that the ULS of the Northeast, from a perspective of articulating Hospital Health Care and Primary Health Care, ensures surveillance and monitoring in the area of Maternal Health, from a perspective of proximity to the population it serves, at the level of family planning, pregnancy and preparation for parenthood, and in the area of Child Health”, we also read.
At this time, an intervention is underway to improve the conditions of the Bragança maternity hospital, the only one in operation in the entire district.
“From a perspective of continuous improvement in the quality of services, it is also important to highlight the important investment underway in terms of the requalification of the Maternity Unit at ULS do Nordeste, with a view to creating better conditions, with more comfort and safety, for users and professionals” , concluded ULS.
Difference for heel prick tests
However, the number of children born in the Bragança maternity hospital is different from the number of heel prick tests carried out on children in the Northeast of Trás-os-Montes.
This examination is carried out in the first few days after the child’s birth, which indicates that several babies in the district end up being born in hospital units in other parts of the country.
For example, in 2022, 381 births were registered in the maternity ward but, according to data from the Ricardo Jorge Institute, 574 heel prick tests were carried out on children in the district. A difference of 193 births.
In 2022, Bragança was the district with the fewest births. Along with Portalegre, which had 584 births that year, they are the only two districts below 600 children. The Guard follows, with 612.
These are the only three districts with fewer than a thousand births that year. Vila Real, next door, had 1008 births during 2022.
In 2022, sociologist Henrique Ferreira warned that this is a phenomenon that “could be even worse” if it were not for immigrant communities.
“Demography is an interdisciplinary area in which there are many interfering disciplines. We can say that demography is one of the broadest interdisciplinary areas. In it, demography, geography, economy, culture, the value system, the system of social motivations, the system of opportunities and the system of bonuses interfere. Many of these areas are included in or derive from public policies in relation to demography, birth rate, education and, above all, future prospects.
It cannot be said that a certain community does not want to have children. This can also happen but is not common. What happens is that people evaluate their situation in relation to the contexts and decide not to have children either because they feel that they do not have the conditions to give them a good life or because they think that it is not yet opportune to have them given the situation in which they find themselves. . The result is that children either come later and later in the age of couples, especially women, or, simply, they no longer come because time has passed”, he stressed.
