🚨🌍The World Health Organization (WHO) has reported that progress in lowering maternal mortality rates has stalled across much of the world and, in some regions, it is getting worse. 😔

According to the WHO report, between 2016 and 2020, the number of pregnant women who died per 100,000 births increased by 3.8% a year in Europe, 3.5% in Latin America and the Caribbean, and 2.9% in North America. In other poorer regions, for the first time in decades, improvement slowed significantly.

🌍Around 70% of all maternal deaths in 2020 occurred in sub-Saharan Africa, where poverty is largely to blame. Many women do not have access to healthcare to deal with complications when they arise. Child marriage is also common, with 20% of women giving birth before their 16th birthday in some parts of the region, raising the risk of severe complications.

👉Between 2000 and 2015, maternal mortality rates across Africa fell by around 2.2% each year. But since 2016, the annual drop has shrunk to 1.7%. Progress is stalling elsewhere too, and the reasons for this are still unclear.

😷The pandemic no doubt made pregnancy more hazardous, because of the risk of Covid-19 itself and the strain it put on healthcare facilities. But that merely explains one year of the data. Public-health experts are yet to determine what other factors have been at play since 2016.

🌍In some parts of the world, progress has reversed. In percentage terms, Europe saw the greatest increase of any region in the maternal death rate between 2016 and 2020 (though it is still by far the safest region to be pregnant or give birth). Latin America and the Caribbean also experienced a rise in mortality, after more than a decade of improvements.

🇺🇸America is an outlier in the rich world. Unlike most other countries, it has recorded a steady rise in mortality rates for the past two decades, not just since 2016. Black women are disproportionately affected: studies have shown they are three times more likely to die during pregnancy than white women.

📈The WHO's figures show that the risk for a woman in America was 78% higher in 2020 than in 2000. However, America's data is skewed by the fact that states changed how they recorded maternal mortality rates between 2003 and 2017. A report published in 2020 found there was no difference in the maternal-mortality rate between 1999 and 2017 when controlling for the adoption of these new death certificates.

🙏It's important to keep raising awareness and advocating for better access to healthcare for pregnant women worldwide. We must continue to work towards better outcomes for mothers and babies everywhere.


Source : https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2023/03/01/a-who-report-shows-that-pregnancy-is-killing-800-women-a-day

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