Genenva: According to the United Nations, despite maternal mortality rates declining by a third in 20 years, a woman dies every two minutes from complications related to pregnancy or childbirth.
Rates significantly decreased between 2000 and 2015, but between 2016 and 2020 they largely stagnated and, in some regions, even started to rise, according to the UN.
According to a report by the World Health Organization and other UN agencies, the overall maternal mortality rate decreased by 34.3 percent over a 20-year period, from 339 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births in 2000 to 223 maternal deaths in 2020.
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However, that means that in 2020, there will be about 800 deaths of women per day, or one every two minutes.
The largest decrease was in Belarus (95.5%), and the largest increase was in Venezuela. The United States experienced the greatest increase between 2000 and 2015.
As the head of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, "Pregnancy should be a time of great hope and a positive experience for all women, but tragically it is still a shockingly dangerous experience for millions around the world."
The urgent need to guarantee every woman and girl has access to vital health services and can fully exercise their reproductive rights is made clear by these new statistics.
According to the study, only two of the eight UN regions saw a decrease in maternal mortality rates between 2016 and 2020: Australia and New Zealand saw a 35 percent decrease and Central and Southern Asia saw a 16 percent decrease.
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The rate increased by 17% in Europe and Northern America, and 15% in Latin America and the Caribbean. It stalled elsewhere. According to the report's author, Jenny Cresswell, the two European countries experiencing "significant increases" are Greece and Cyprus.
Maternal deaths continue to be disproportionately concentrated in the world's poorest regions and in conflict-torn countries. Around 70% of those recorded deaths in 2020 occurred in Sub-Saharan Africa, where the rate is "136 times higher" than in Australia and New Zealand, according to Cresswell.
Afghanistan, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen all had rates that were more than double the global average.
According to the report, the leading causes of death are severe bleeding, infections, complications from unsafe abortions, and underlying conditions such as HIV/AIDS, all of which are largely preventable and treatable.
According to the WHO, it is "critical" for women to have control over their reproductive health, particularly when and if they have children, so that they can plan and space childbearing to protect their health.
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The UN Population Fund's Natalia Kanem called the rate of women dying "necessarily" "unconscionable."
"We can and must do better by investing urgently in family planning and addressing the global shortage of 900,000 midwives," she said.
While the report covers data through 2020, Anshu Banerjee of the WHO told journalists that statistics since then have been bleak due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the economic crisis.