Every two minutes, a woman dies during pregnancy or childbirth, according to a report released by the United Nations agency. This report shows the trends in maternal mortality, an alarming situation for women’s health in recent years, as maternal mortality has either increased or stagnated in almost all regions of the world.
In 2020, 223 maternal deaths occurred per 100,000 live births, according to a report by the World Health Organization. This death rate has decreased slightly from 2015 and 2000. In 2015, 227 and in 2000, 339 maternal deaths occurred.
The World Health Organization has stated that most of the deaths during pregnancy or childbirth are preventable, but if there is no progress in reducing them, it is possible that by 2030, the lives of more than one million women will be at risk.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO Director-General said: “Pregnancy … is tragically still a shockingly dangerous experience for millions around the world who lack access to high quality, respectful health care.”
The head of the United Nations agency drew attention to the regional disparity in access to health services and emphasized the need to ensure access to critical health services for women and girls before, during, and after childbirth.
He said that it is necessary to ensure these services for the full use of their reproductive rights.
The world is slowly recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic, and research shows that exposure to the coronavirus may increase the risk during pregnancy.
Experts point out that more research efforts are needed to fully assess the true extent of this global health disaster in maternal mortality.
Slow progress
The United Nations Health Agency produced a report titled ‘Trends In Maternal Mortality’ has collected information about maternal deaths at the national, regional, and global levels from 2000 to 2020.
According to the report, there were 287,000 maternal deaths worldwide in 2020, which shows a slight decrease compared to 309,000 in 2016.
According to the agency, this result is due to the commitment of countries to implement the Sustainable Development Goal Agenda in 2015, with the goal of reducing maternal mortality to less than 70 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births by 2030.
The report found that some substantial progress had been made in reducing maternal mortality between 2000 and 2015, but that major progress had stalled and in some cases reversed.
Unfair circumstances
270 million women do not have access to modern methods of family planning. Experts say that due to inequality in income, education, caste, and caste, the risk increases in marginalized women.
These women have less access to much-needed prenatal care, while they are more likely to experience pre-existing health problems during pregnancy.
This report was prepared by the United Nations Health Agency, United Nations Maternal Mortality Estimates, on behalf of an inter-agency group consisting of the World Health Organization, the United Nations Population Fund, the World Bank Group and the Population Branch of the United Nations Office.
The Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund, Dr. Natalia Kanem, expressed concern that a large number of women still die during pregnancy and childbirth.
Expressing her anger, she said that the situation where more than 280,000 people die in a year is completely unfair.
“We can do better – and we must – by investing urgently in family planning and filling the global shortage of more than 9 million midwives so that every woman can get the life-saving care they need.”
“We have the tools, knowledge and resources to stop these maternal deaths, we just need the political will.”
Conflict and poverty: a deadly cocktail
An important finding of the report is that maternal deaths occur mainly in the world’s poorest countries and countries at risk of violent conflict.
In 2020, 70 percent of all maternal deaths occurred in sub-Saharan Africa. At the same time, in 9 countries facing severe humanitarian crises, the maternal mortality rate (551 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births) was double the global average (223 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births).
The main causes of these deaths are severe bleeding, high blood pressure, infections during pregnancy, complications due to unsafe abortions and health problems including malaria, HIV/AIDS worsened during pregnancy.
Eight prenatal tests are recommended, but statistics show that even four such tests are not possible for nearly one-third of women, nor are they able to receive postnatal care.
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