A woman dies every two minutes in the world during pregnancy or childbirth, according to WHO

Although maternal mortality has been reduced by a third in twenty years, a woman still dies in the world every two minutes from complications related to pregnancy or childbirth, warns the World Health Organization (WHO) , Thursday, February 23. According to his report (link in English)the global maternal mortality rate declined by 34.3% between 2000 and 2020, to 223 deaths per 100,000 live births.

Progress in reducing the number of these deaths was made between 2000 and 2015, but gains largely stagnated, with the situation even reversing in some cases after this period.

The number of such deaths has increased or stagnated in almost all regions of the world since 2016, with the exception of Australia, New Zealand and Central and South Asia. In twenty years, Belarus has recorded the highest decline, while Venezuela has recorded the largest increase, followed by Cyprus, Greece and the United States.

Pregnancy remains ‘dangerous’

Globally, 287,000 women died during pregnancy or childbirth in 2020 – about one death every two minutes – compared to 446,000 in 2000. But this is only a slight drop from the 309,000 deaths recorded in 2016, when the UN Sustainable Development Goals came into effect.

In 2020, about 70% of all these deaths were recorded in sub-Saharan Africa, where the maternal mortality rate is “136 times higher than in Australia and New Zealand”, which record the lowest figures, said the author of the report, Dr. Jenny Cresswell, in a press conference.

The pregnancy remains “an extremely dangerous experience for millions of people around the world who do not have access to respectful and high-quality health care”lamented Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director general of the WHO. “These new statistics show the urgent need to ensure that every woman and girl has access to essential health services before, during and after childbirth.”