The Current State of Maternity Care and Suggestions for Improvement in the Management of High-risk Pregnancies in South Korea

Since the year 2000, low birth rates have resulted in significant decreases to maternity care services throughout many Korean hospitals.However, there has been a concomitant increase in the number of high-risk pregnancies, due to growing trends in delayed marriages and subsequent pregnancies.Increased maternal age is a risk factor associated with complicated pregnancies and high-risk deliveries, both of which are strongly related to maternal death.With this in mind, the Ministry of Health and Welfare has supported the establishment of a regional perinatal center for high-risk pregnancies, estimated to be be fully completed by the year 2020.Despite this, maternity care services for high-risk pregnancies remain insufficient.According to previous reports, the total number of maternity care hospitals and beds available for high-risk pregnant women were 60 and 399, respectively.This is in stark contrast to previous bed estimates of 1,640.The establishment of a maternity care system for highrisk pregnant women is integral to ensuring optimal conditions for both pregnancy and childbirth.This review briefly evaluates the existing maternity care system for high-risk pregnancies, and proposes several new suggestions for improvements.