Maternal Death

One maternal death occurs every 2 minutes

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A pregnancy- or childbirth-related death occurred once every 2 minutes in 2020, marking significant shortcomings in women’s health over the last several years, according to a new report developed by United Nations agencies.

“While pregnancy should be a time of immense hope and a positive experience for all women, it is tragically still a shockingly dangerous experience for millions around the world who lack access to high quality, respectful health care,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, PhD, MSc, said in a press release. “These new statistics reveal the urgent need to ensure every woman and girl has access to critical health services before, during and after childbirth, and that they can fully exercise their reproductive rights.”

Maternal mortality
Data derived from: Trends in maternal mortality 2000 to 2020.

The report analyzed national, regional and global trends in maternal mortality from 2000 to 2020, with the latter year registering a total of 287,000 maternal mortalities worldwide. According to WHO, this is only a slight decrease from 309,000 maternal deaths in 2016.

The organization noted that some improvements in reducing maternal mortality were made from 2000 to 2015; however, the rates in most regions either stagnated or risen beyond that time. From 2016 to 2020, maternal mortality rates increased in two of the eight U.N. regions: Europe and North America by 17% and Latin America and the Caribbean by 15%. Meanwhile, declines were observed in Australia and New Zealand, where deaths declined 35%, and Central and Southern Asia, which experienced a 16% decline.

Maternal deaths were most heavily concentrated in the poorest areas and countries impacted by conflict, according to WHO. In 2020, approximately 70% of maternal deaths occurred in sub-Saharan Africa.

The leading causes of maternal mortality included:

  • severe bleeding;
  • complications from unsafe abortions;
  • high BP;
  • pregnancy-related infections; and
  • underlying conditions that may have been aggravated by pregnancy, including HIV.

Although most conditions and ensuing maternal deaths are preventable, WHO noted that global lapses in women’s health care and resources have contributed to rising mortality. According to the organization, about one-third of women do not receive even half of the recommended eight antenatal check-ups or receive postnatal care, while about 270 million women lack access to family planning methods.

“Reducing maternal mortality remains one of the most pressing global health challenges,” John Wilmoth, the director of the U.N.’s Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, said in the release. “With immediate action, more investments in primary health care and stronger, more resilient health systems, we can save lives, improve health and well-being, and advance the rights of and opportunities for women and adolescents.”

Maternal Death: The Avoidable Crisis.

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Every year, hundreds of thousands of women around the world die avoidable deaths during childbirth, for lack of skilled birth attendants and basic medications, the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said in a report released today, in advance of International Women’s Day on March 8.

The report Maternal Death: The Avoidable Crisis details how the provision of emergency obstetric care to pregnant women in acute and chronic humanitarian crises can have a direct impact and save women’s lives. It examines the circumstances for pregnant women in 12 countries where MSF works, in settings ranging from conflict areas to countries with weak health systems, including Pakistan, Somalia, South Sudan, and Haiti. The report highlights the need for emergency medical assistance, particularly when pregnancy complications occur.

The report draws on years of MSF’s experience running and expanding programs to meet the needs of pregnant women, and seeks to draw greater attention to the dearth of emergency obstetric care in a number of crisis areas.

“We know that 15 percent of all pregnancies worldwide will experience a life-threatening complication,” said Kara Blackburn, women’s health advisor for MSF. “Women need access to quality emergency obstetric care whether they live in Sydney, Port-au-Prince, or Mogadishu. The reality is the same for women in a modern hospital in a major city, or for those living in a conflict zone, a refugee camp, or under plastic sheeting following a devastating earthquake.”

Every day, approximately 1,000 women die in childbirth or from pregnancy-related complications – one every 90 seconds, according to the World Health Organization. However, with the help of skilled birth attendants and access to the appropriate drugs and equipment, women’s lives—and the lives of their babies—can be saved.

Delivery is the most critical moment for saving women’s and babies’ lives, with most maternal deaths occurring just before, during, or immediately after delivery, often from complications that cannot be predicted ahead of time. Typical—and deadly—complications include hemorrhaging, sepsis (infection), unsafe abortions, eclampsia (hypertension), and obstructed labor, which together account for nearly three quarters of all maternal deaths worldwide. All of these conditions can be prevented or treated.

As an emergency medical organization, MSF has demonstrated that maternal deaths can be reduced, including during humanitarian crises. The organization has invested significantly in developing the technical and logistical capacity to provide life-saving—and free-of-charge—emergency obstetric care.

“It is an ongoing tragedy that we are still seeing so many women die in childbirth, when we know that the provision of quality care at the time of delivery can have a direct impact,” said Blackburn. “We must always remind ourselves that a maternal death is an avoidable death.”

MSF provides emergency obstetric care in approximately 30 countries. In 2010, MSF staff assisted the delivery of more than 150,000 babies.

Source: MSF Newsletter.