“Pregnancy,” said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), “should be a moment of great hope and a positive experience for all women, but, unfortunately, it remains an incredibly dangerous experience for millions of people throughout around the world who do not have access to high quality and respectful health care.” This is confirmed by the very disturbing data published in the report of the UN agencies: every two minutes a woman dies during pregnancy or childbirth.
The report analyzes maternal mortality at the national, regional and global levels from 2000 to 2020 and shows that there were approximately 287,000 pregnancy and childbirth-related deaths worldwide in 2020. According to the analysis, significant progress was made in reducing mortality between 2000 and 2015, but then the positive trend stopped, and in some cases even began to decline. The collected data show that almost 95% of all maternal deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries and most of them could have been prevented. Leading causes of death include heavy bleeding, high blood pressure, pregnancy-related infections, unsafe abortions, and diseases such as HIV/AIDS and malaria. To avoid these complications, it would be enough to expand access to decent health care..
“Through immediate action, increased investment in primary health care and stronger and more resilient health systems,” explains Juan Pablo Uribe, Global Director for Health, Nutrition and Population at the World Bank and Director of the Global Financing Facility, “we can save lives . improve health and well-being, and empower women and adolescents.” According to the report, about a third of women miss even four of the eight recommended prenatal checkups and do not receive the necessary postnatal care. In addition, approximately 270 million women worldwide are unable to control their reproductive health when the ability to plan a pregnancy is necessary to protect their health. “It is unacceptable that so many women continue to needlessly die during pregnancy and childbirth.“We can and must do more by urgently investing in family planning and filling the global shortage of 900,000 midwives so that every woman can get life-saving care,” said UNFPA Executive Director Natalia Kanem. We have the tools, knowledge and resources to end preventable maternal deaths; what we need now is political will.”
Source: Elle