Abstract:

Background: Eclampsia continues to be a major problem in developing countries such as Tanzania, contributing significantly to high maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality. WHO recommend magnesium sulfate as the most effective anticonvulsants which is most effective drug of choice for prevention of seizures

Methodology: A retrospective study was conducted at Bugando medical centre maternity ward, Nyamagana in Mwanza region, Tanzania to obtain data of pregnant women admitted at Bugando medical centre for the period between January 2015 to December 2018. Study population was 340 pregnant women files in which random sampling method was used. The collected was analyzed by using SPSS version 20.

Results and discussion: The average of participants was 25 years, 199 (58.5%) diagnosed with severe pre-eclampsia and 141 (41.4%) with eclampsia of which 330 (97.1%) were managed with magnesium sulphate, 6 (2.0%) Diazepam and 4 (0.9%) other anticonvulsants, 90% the outcome were alive and 7% motility was recorded. However, the mortality was very high compared to United States of America 0.5%. The high maternal mortality from complications of eclampsia is attributed to the limited capability to manage such complications in a low resource setting.

Conclusion and recommendation: Magnesium sulphate is recommend by WHO to treat severe pre-eclampsia and eclampsia. The drug is cheap and relatively easy to produce, and so making it readily available for the care of women with eclampsia in both high-income and low-to-middle-income countries should be high priority. The government train more health professional to increase the work force in treatment of seizures in pregnant women.