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A woman or girl passes away from difficulties during pregnancy or childbirth every other minute. Why has the rate of maternal mortality drop stopped globally?
How many women die in childbirth? According to the latest UN global estimates, 303,000 women a year die in childbirth, or as a result of complications arising from pregnancy. This equates to about 830 women dying each day – roughly one every two minutes. The majority of deaths are from conditions that could have been prevented had women received the right medical care throughout their pregnancies and during birth. Severe bleeding and infections after childbirth are the biggest killers, but high blood pressure, obstructed labour and unsafe abortions all contribute. Accurate maternal mortality figures require strong in-country data collection, which is often unavailable in developing countries, so the number of deaths is likely to be underreported.
Where do the deaths occur? The overwhelming majority of maternal deaths occur in developing countries. About two-thirds of all maternal deaths take place in sub-Saharan Africa. Nigeria and India alone account for one-third of global deaths. The maternal mortality ratio in the world’s least developed countries stands at 436 deaths for every 100,000 live births, which is in stark contrast to the corresponding number – just 12 – in wealthy countries. World Bank figures show that in 2015 (the latest year for which there are records) Sierra Leone had the highest maternal mortality ratio in the world, with 1,360 deaths for every 100,000 live births – although this represents a 50% reduction since 1990.
What progress has been made to reduce deaths? Despite the number of deaths, global figures reflect progress. In 1990 an estimated 532,000 women died annually, so there has been a 44% drop in a generation. But while the reduction certainly merits celebration, it reflects a small return on big global commitments. At the first world conference on women, held in Mexico in 1975, a spotlight was shone on the high number of maternal deaths, and action urged to reduce them. In 1994, 179 governments at the international conference on population and development.in Cairo made a joint promise that, by the turn of the century, they would halve the number of maternal deaths recorded in 1990, and then halve the figure again by 2015.
