Furthermore, unprecedented aid button that puts global progress to end maternity deaths at risk, UN agencies have warned in a new report requiring greater investment in midwives and other health workers.
The Trends in maternal mortality The report was published by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN Sexual and Reproductive Health Agency UNFPA, in compliance with the World Health Day on April 7.
It shows that maternal deaths decreased by 40 percent between 2000 and 2023, largely due to improved access to important healthcare.
However, the rate of improvement has slowed significantly since 2016, and an estimated 260,000 women died in 2023 due to complications during pregnancy and childbirth or about a death every other minute.
Deadly danger in Sudan
Frontline health workers have long raised alarms about the dangers of giving birth in conflict settings.
In Sudan’s Al Jazirah state, a midwife named Awatef UNFPA told her that she helped four women deliver babies while fleding from violence: “I delivered them in the bush, with only very basic sterilization – I had nothing but water and soap.”
A woman, Amina, had to give birth by caesarean section – on the floor of a foreign home where a local doctor helped deliveries – while listening to the drum with shots right outside. “I had to start walking again just six hours later and carrying my baby, while my wounds were still fresh and painful,” she said.
Pressing action necessary
As Aid Funding Cuts forces countries to roll vital services back to mothers, newborn and children’s health, the UN agencies appeal for urgent action to prevent maternal deaths, especially in humanitarian environment where the number is already alarmingly high.
“While this report shows Glimmers of Hope, the data also highlights how dangerous pregnancy is still in large parts of the world in the day, despite the fact that there are solutions to prevent and treat the complications that cause the vast majority of maternity deaths,” said WHO HERFORE Director Tedro’s Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
“In addition to ensuring access to the quality of maternity care, it will be critical to strengthen women’s underlying health and reproductive rights – factors that support their prospects of healthy results during pregnancy and beyond.”
Pregnancy and the pandemic
The report also contains the first global account of Covid-19 Pandem’s influence on maternal survival.
Estimated 40,000 more women died due to pregnancy or birth in 2021, rose to 282,000 in 2022 and to 322,000 the following year.
This increase was not only linked to direct complications caused by Covid-19, but also widespread interruptions of maternity services, highlighting the importance of ensuring that this care is available under pandemics and other emergencies.
Invest in midwives
“When a mother dies during pregnancy or birth, her baby’s life is also at risk. Too often both are lost for reasons we know how to prevent,” said UNICEF CEO Catherine Russell.
With global financing cuts that put more mothers at risk, especially in the most fragile environment, “the world must invest in midwives, nurses and health workers to make sure every mother and baby has a chance to survive and thrive,” she added.
Inequalities and slowdowns
The report also highlights sustained inequalities between regions and countries as well as uneven progress.
When maternal mortality fell by about 40 percent between 2000 and 2023, Africa south of the Sahara achieved significant gains. It was also among only three UN regions to see significant drops after 2015, with the others being Australia and New Zealand and Central and South Asia.
Nevertheless, sub -Saharan Africa was still approx. 70 percent of the global burden of maternal deaths in 2023 due to high poverty and more conflicts.
Meanwhile, five regions saw progress that stagnates after 2015: North Africa and West Asia, Eastern and Southeast Asia, Oceania (excluding Australia and New Zealand), Europe and North America and Latin America and the Caribbean.
A midwife who visits pregnant women in a shelter for internally displaced persons in Sudan.
A global responsibility
Dr. Natalia Kanem, UNFPA CEO, maintained this access to quality moderate health services is a right, not a privilege.
She emphasized the urgent responsibility for building well resourceful health systems that protect the lives of pregnant women and newborns.
“By increasing the supply chains, the midwife’s workforce and the divided data needed to find out the most vulnerable, we can and should end the tragedy with preventable maternal deaths and their huge toll on families and communities,” she said.
Birth in crisis settings
The report also highlighted the situation of pregnant women living in humanitarian emergencies that face some of the highest risks globally. Nearly two -thirds of the global mothers’ deaths are now occurring in countries affected by fragility or conflict.
In addition to ensuring critical services during pregnancy, childbirth, and the postnatal period, the report emphasized the importance of efforts to improve women’s overall health by improving access to family planning services and preventing underlying health conditions that increase risks, such as anemia, malaria and non -teaching diseases.
In addition, it is also important to ensure that girls remain in school and that they and women have knowledge and resources to protect their health.
Maternal mortality ratio (MMR) trends by region.
