Every Two Minutes, A Woman Dies Due To Pregnancy Or Childbirth

Add as a preferred source on Google

New data by UN agencies show major setbacks in maternal health across the globe, highlighting stark disparities in healthcare access. According to the report, a woman dies during pregnancy or childbirth every two minutes.

"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," said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) [1].

Take a closer look at the report's key findings:

• Globally, there are estimated to be 287 000 maternal deaths in 2020, according to the report, which tracks maternal deaths nationally, regionally, and globally from 2000 to 2020 [2].
• Although the report shows significant progress in reducing maternal mortality between 2000 and 2015, the gains largely stalled, or were even reversed, after this time.
• The majority of maternal deaths continue to occur in the poorest regions of the world and those affected by conflict. Around 70% of all maternal deaths will occur in sub-Saharan Africa in 2020.
• Maternal mortality rates were more than double the world average in nine countries experiencing severe humanitarian crises (551 maternal deaths per 100 000 live births compared with 223 globally).

What Are The Leading Causes Of Maternal Death?

The leading causes of maternal deaths are severe bleeding, high blood pressure, pregnancy-related infections, complications from unsafe abortions, and underlying conditions that can be aggravated by pregnancy, such as HIV/AIDS and malaria. According to experts, these conditions are largely preventable and treatable with access to high-quality healthcare [3].

The report also stated that approximately 270 million women lack access to modern family planning methods, and approximately one-third of women do not even receive four of the recommended eight antenatal checks.

Did COVID Increase The Risk Of Maternal Death?

The COVID-19 pandemic may have further slowed progress on maternal health. As the current data series ends in 2020, additional data will be necessary to assess the impact of the pandemic on maternal mortality. It is important, however, that countries ensure pregnant women and those who are planning to become pregnant have access to COVID-19 vaccines and effective antenatal care in order to reduce the risk of infection during pregnancy [4].

Maternal Mortality In India

Three countries reported more than 10,000 such deaths, including India, which reported 24,000 pregnancy and childbirth deaths, followed by Ethiopia, which reported 22,000, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which reported 10,000 [5][6].

However, according to a special bulletin released by the Registrar General of India, the maternal mortality rate has decreased from 130 per lakh live births in 2014-16 to 97 per lakh live births in 2018-20. Mansukh Mandaviya, Union Health Minister, attributed the improvement to the government's various health initiatives that ensure that maternal and reproductive health care is of high quality [7].

Despite a countrywide improvement, conditions remain poor in some states, including Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Assam, where MMRs (maternal mortality ratio) was significantly higher than the SDG target for the United States.

On A Final Note...

Over 800 women are expected to die every day from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth in 2020. There were almost two maternal deaths every two minutes in 2020, which underscores the need for the government as well as healthcare institutions to make more efforts to combat this issue.