“830 women die from pregnancy, childbirth complications daily” – WHO
The World Health Organisation has estimated that about 830 women die from pregnancy- or childbirth-related complications around the world every day.
WHO says majority of these deaths can be prevented with high-quality care.
Nothemba Simelela, WHO’s Assistant Director-General for Family, Women, Children and Adolescents, stated this while issuing new guidelines on global care standards throughout labour and immediately after childbirth.
Simelela said: “Achieving the best possible physical, emotional, and psychological outcomes for the woman and her baby requires a model of care in which health systems empower all women to access care that focuses on the mother and child.”
The majority of maternal deaths are due to haemorrhage, infection, unsafe abortion, and eclampsia (very high blood pressure leading to seizures), or from health complications worsened in pregnancy.
In all these cases, unavailable, inaccessible, unaffordable, or poor quality care is fundamentally responsible.
Maternal deaths are detrimental to social development and well-being, as some 1 million children are left motherless each year. These children are more likely to die within 1-2 years of their mothers’ death.
