According to a United Nations report, every two minutes a woman dies during pregnancy or childbirth.
The report stressed that the world must significantly accelerate progress to meet global targets to reduce maternal mortality or risk losing 100,000 lives by 2030.
The report titled ‘Trends in Maternal Mortality’ was released by the World Bank and United Nations Population Division, UNICEF, UNFPA.
The report reveals an alarming blow to women’s health in recent years as maternal mortality has either increased or remained flat in almost all regions of the world.
UNFPA Executive Director Dr Natalia Kanim said it is unacceptable that so many women die unnecessarily in pregnancy and childbirth, 280,000 deaths in a single year are unjustifiable.
“We can do better by investing urgently in family planning and filling the global shortfall of 9 million midwives so that every woman can get the life-saving care she needs,” she added.
We have the tools, knowledge and resources to end maternal mortality, what we need now is the political will, he added.
According to the report, in 2 out of 8 regions of the United Nations, Europe and North America and Latin America and the Caribbean, the maternal mortality rate has increased from 15 percent in 2016 to 17 percent in 2020, and in some places this rate is stagnant.
The report notes that positive progress is possible, with Australia and New Zealand and two regions in Central and South Asia significantly increasing their maternal mortality rates (by 35 percent and 16 percent, respectively) over the same period. have declined as did 31 countries across the world.
The report estimates maternal mortality at national, regional and global levels from 2000 to 2020.
According to the report, an estimated 287,000 maternal deaths occurred worldwide in 2020, which was a slight decrease from the 39,000 deaths in 2016.
While the report shows some significant progress in reducing maternal mortality between 2000 and 2015, gains have largely stalled or in some cases reversed after that point.
The report said that nearly one-third of women do not get 4 of the 8 recommended prenatal check-ups or receive post-natal care, while 270 million women do not have access to modern family planning methods. do not have.
Overall, the world’s poor and conflict-ridden countries have the highest maternal mortality rates, with 70 percent of maternal deaths worldwide in 2020 occurring in sub-Saharan Africa.
In addition, 9 countries with severe humanitarian crisis have double the world average maternal mortality rate.
