Global maternal mortality prevention is more challenging
- Global progress in reducing maternal and newborn deaths has slowed
- Some expecting mothers lack access to care, clean water and medicine
- Pregnancies in the U.S. face similar challenges on a smaller scale
Maurice and Grace, 23-day-old babies, rest in the same hospital room as their mother Furaha Twizire Bukomeye (not seen), 35, a war-wounded widow in the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) surgical unit in Goma, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on November 19, 2022. – Their house was bombed on October 27 in the village of Kalengera in which her husband was killed.
Since October 2022, fighting, sometimes in populated areas, has resumed between the army and the M23 rebellion, accused by a United Nations report of being supported by the Rwandan army. People wounded during the conflict managed to reach the city of Goma and are cared for by the ICRC. The international organisation denounces the absence of a humanitarian corridor that allows the wounded to cross the front line, some 20 kilometers north of the city. (Photo by ALEXIS HUGUET / AFP) (Photo by ALEXIS HUGUET/AFP via Getty Images)
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(NewsNation) — Global progress to reduce maternal and newborn deaths and stillbirths has slowed throughout the past decade, according to a new report by UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO).
More than 4.5 million women and babies die each year during pregnancy, childbirth or the first weeks after birth, according to the report released Tuesday.
Sub-Saharan Africa and Central and Southern Asia are the regions experiencing the most deaths.
“One thing we all agree on globally, regardless of where you live or what your religion is or how much money you make, is that moms and babies deserve a happy and healthy pregnancy, a positive pregnancy experience, happy and healthy start to life,” said Emily Smith, an assistant professor of global health at George Washington University’s Boston Institute of Public Health.
The United States, though it’s not among those countries most at risk, has also seen climbing maternal mortality rates for the past several years.
“In the U.S., the same kinds of things predict adverse outcomes for moms and babies, which can be poverty, food insecurity, poor nutrition…and access to care,” Smith said.
The rate at which women die during pregnancy or shortly after rose by 90% between 2018 and 2021, according to the most recent U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data available.
The persisting challenges to maternal health on a global scale also include COVID-19, rising poverty and humanitarian crises. Underinvestment in primary healthcare also remains a major obstacle, according to the WHO report.
Prematurity, for example, is the global leader of death in people younger than 5 years old, but less than a third of countries say they have enough newborn care units to treat small and sick babies, according to the report.
About two-thirds of childbirth facilities in sub-Saharan Africa also lack essential resources including medicine, water and staffing for 24-hour care, according to the report.
Moving forward, women and their children must have access to family planning services as well as quality and affordable healthcare before, during and after childbirth, according to the report.
“There’s lots of lots of different ways to contribute, both locally and globally…” Smith said. “In the U.S. that might mean contributing to local organizations that support pregnant women or support social services for moms and babies. That could be many things.”
That will require more skilled and health workers and midwives and crucially – access to essential medicines and supplies, safe water, and reliable electricity. Women in poverty or otherwise vulnerable situations are especially in need of those improvements, according to the report.
