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WWW Who Int News Room Fact Sheets Detail Maternal Mortality
WWW Who Int News Room Fact Sheets Detail Maternal Mortality
WWW Who Int News Room Fact Sheets Detail Maternal Mortality
Maternal mortality
22 February 2023
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Key facts
Every day in 2020, almost 800 women died from preventable causes related to
pregnancy and childbirth.
A maternal death occurred almost every two minutes in 2020.
Between 2000 and 2020, the maternal mortality ratio (MMR, number of maternal
deaths per 100 000 live births) dropped by about 34% worldwide.
Almost 95% of all maternal deaths occurred in low and lower middle-income
countries in 2020.
Care by skilled health professionals before, during and after childbirth can save the
lives of women and newborns.
Overview
Maternal mortality is unacceptably high. About 287 000 women died during and following
pregnancy and childbirth in 2020. Almost 95% of all maternal deaths occurred in low and
lower middle-income countries in 2020, and most could have been prevented.
Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) regions and sub-regions are used here. Sub-Saharan
Africa and Southern Asia accounted for around 87% (253 000) of the estimated global
maternal deaths in 2020. Sub-Saharan Africa alone accounted for around 70% of maternal
deaths (202 000), while Southern Asia accounted for around 16% (47 000).
At the same time, between 2000 and 2020, Eastern Europe and Southern Asia achieved the
greatest overall reduction in maternal mortality ratio (MMR): a decline of 70% (from an MMR
of 38 to 11) and 67% (from an MMR of 408 down to 134), respectively. Despite its very high
MMR in 2020, Sub-Saharan Africa also achieved a substantial reduction in MMR of 33%
between 2000 and 2020. Four SDG sub-regions roughly halved their MMRs during this
period: Eastern Africa, Central Asia, Eastern Asia, and Northern Africa and Western Europe
reduced their MMR by around one third. Overall, the maternal mortality ratio (MMR) in
least-developed countries* declined by just under 50%. In land locked developing countries
the MMR decreased by 50% (from 729 to 368). In small island developing countries the
MMR declined by 19% (from 254 to 206).
* For details of countries considered in the group of “least developed” please refer to
standard country or area codes for statistical use (M49) available at:
https:∕∕unstats.un.org∕unsd∕methodology∕m49∕.
Humanitarian, con몭ict, and post-con몭ict settings hinder progress in reducing the burden of
maternal mortality. In 2020, according to the Fragile States Index (1), 9 countries were “very
high alert” or “high alert” (from highest to lowest: Yemen, Somalia, South Sudan, the Syrian
Arab Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic, Chad,
Sudan and Afghanistan); these countries had MMRs ranging from 30 (the Syrian Arab
Republic) to 1223 (South Sudan) in 2020. The average MMR for very high and high alert
fragile states in 2020 was 551 per 100 000, over double the world average.
Women in low-income countries have a higher lifetime risk of death of maternal death. A
woman’s lifetime risk of maternal death is the probability that a 15-year-old woman will
eventually die from a maternal cause. In high income countries, this is 1 in 5300, versus 1 in
49 in low-income countries.
Most maternal deaths are preventable, as the health-care solutions to prevent or manage
complications are well known. All women need access to high quality care in pregnancy,
and during and after childbirth. Maternal health and newborn health are closely linked. It is
particularly important that all births are attended by skilled health professionals, as timely
management and treatment can make the di몭erence between life and death for the
women as well as for the newborn.
Severe bleeding after birth can kill a healthy woman within hours if she is unattended.
Injecting oxytocics immediately after childbirth e몭ectively reduces the risk of bleeding.
Infection after childbirth can be eliminated if good hygiene is practiced and if early signs of
infection are recognized and treated in a timely manner.
The latest available data suggest that in most high income and upper middle income
countries, approximately 99% of all births bene몭t from the presence of a trained midwife,
doctor or nurse. However, only 68% in low income and 78% in lower-middle-income
countries are assisted by such skilled health personnel (4).
Factors that prevent women from receiving or seeking care during pregnancy and
childbirth are:
health system failures that translate to (i) poor quality of care, including disrespect,
mistreatment and abuse, (ii); insu몭cient numbers of and inadequately trained health
mistreatment and abuse, (ii); insu몭cient numbers of and inadequately trained health
workers, (iii); shortages of essential medical supplies; and (iv) the poor accountability of
health systems;.
social determinants, including income, access to education, race and ethnicity, that put
some sub-populations at greater risk;
harmful gender norms and∕or inequalities that result in a low prioritization of the rights
of women and girls, including their right to safe, quality and a몭ordable sexual and
reproductive health services; and
external factors contributing to instability and health system fragility, such as climate and
humanitarian crises.
To improve maternal health, barriers that limit access to quality maternal health services
must be identi몭ed and addressed at both health system and societal levels.
The level of maternal mortality during the COVID-19 pandemic may have been impacted by
two mechanisms: deaths where the woman died due to the interaction between her
pregnant state and COVID-19 (known as an indirect obstetric deaths), or deaths where
pregnancy complications were not prevented or managed due to disruption of health
services.
A robust global assessment of the impact of COVID-19 on maternal mortality is not possible
from the data currently available: only around 20% of the countries and territories have
thus far reported empirical data on their maternal mortality levels in 2020, and high-income
and∕or relatively smaller populations are over-represented in this group – with implications
for generalizability of 몭ndings.
The current estimates only extend to include the year 2020. Given the limited data, we
expect these estimates to be revised in future updates.
WHO response
Improving maternal health is one of WHO’s key priorities. WHO works to contribute to the
reduction of maternal mortality by increasing research evidence, providing evidence-based
clinical and programmatic guidance, setting global standards, and providing technical
support to Member States on developing and implementing e몭ective policy and
programmes.
As de몭ned in the Strategies toward ending preventable maternal mortality (EPMM) and
Ending preventable maternal mortality: a renewed focus for improving maternal and
newborn health and well-being, WHO is working with partners in supporting countries
towards:
References
2. Say L, Chou D, Gemmill A et al. Global Causes of Maternal Death: A WHO Systematic
Analysis. Lancet Global Health. 2014;2(6): e323-e333.
4. World Health Organization and United Nations Children’s Fund. WHO∕UNICEF joint
database on SDG 3.1.2 Skilled Attendance at Birth. Available at:
https:∕∕unstats.un.org∕sdgs∕indicators∕database∕.
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