11^th Global Healthcare and Fitness Summit

Introduction: Congenital malformations like neural tube defects are a significant source of morbidity and mortality, and are responsible for a high psychological and economic cost worldwide. However, the impact of this diseases remains largely under-ascertained in middle income and low-income countries. This case report presents a fetal anencephaly in maternal toxoplasma and HIV co-infection in a resource limited setting, and the impact of the disease to the client and the healthcare provider.

 

Case presentation: A 39-year-old black Cameroonian female of Oroko origin, G2P1001 with a positive Toxoplasma and HIV serologic test on ARV from about 17 weeks of pregnancy consulted at a district hospital in the suburb of Cameroon. This client could not benefit from a fetal morphologic ultrasound partly because there were no trained personnel to perform the examination at the site of her antenatal clinic, and due to accessibility constraints to the nearest referral hospital with a radiologist about 150 km away. Twenty weeks later, she returned to the hospital in labor pains after being reported to have lost

a huge quantity of turbid liquor at home. Upon examination, the fetus presented with signs of acute distress. An emergency caesarian section was performed to safe this precious baby, but unfortunately, after about three minutes of intervention, a neonate with anencephaly was born weighing 1400g. After recovery from anesthesia, the frustrated parents of the baby

were counseled and given psychological support. The client was discharged from hospital eight days later and benefits from continual follow-up as outpatient. She was advised to adhere to her ARV, and to consult a gynecologist-obstetrician before her next pregnancy.

 

Conclusion: More attention should be paid to ameliorate the healthcare in middle and low-income settings where accessibility to quality healthcare remains a great challenge.