As global progress in lowering mortality of pregnant women, mothers, and babies has stagnated for eight years, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that one pregnant woman dies every seven seconds.
In a brand-new report released on Tuesday, WHO blamed the drop in sector spending for the rise in maternal and neonatal fatalities.
The research, titled “Improving Maternal and Newborn Health and Survival and Reducing Stillbirth,” analyzes the most recent data, which have comparable risk factors and causes, and keeps tabs on the delivery of crucial medical services.
According to the research, since 2015, there have been no significant improvements in survival rates, with 290,000 maternal fatalities annually, 1.9 million stillbirths (babies who die after 28 weeks of pregnancy), and a startling 2.3 million infant deaths in the first month of life.
According to the study, over 4.5 million women and newborns die each year during pregnancy, childbirth, or the first few weeks after birth. This equates to one death every seven seconds, and the majority of these deaths might have been avoided or treated if appropriate treatment had been available.
At a significant international conference in Cape Town, South Africa, the new publication was introduced.
Pressures on already overburdened health services have increased as a result of the COVID-19 epidemic, rising poverty, and deteriorating humanitarian issues. Of the more than 100 nations surveyed, only one in ten said they have enough money to carry out their current goals.
According to the most recent WHO study on how the pandemic affected fundamental health services, almost 25% of countries continue to report continuous disruptions to services for sick children as well as crucial prenatal and postnatal care.
“Pregnant women and newborns continue to die at unacceptably high rates worldwide, and the COVID-19 pandemic has created further setbacks to providing them with the healthcare they need,” said Anshu Banerjee, director of the Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health and Ageing at WHO.
Mr Banerjee added, “If we wish to see different results, we must do things differently. More and smarter investments in primary healthcare are needed now so that every woman and baby — no matter where they live — has the best chance of health and survival.”
Funding losses and underinvestment in primary healthcare can devastate survival prospects. For instance, while prematurity is now the leading cause of all under-five deaths globally, less than a third of countries report having sufficient newborn care units to treat small and sick babies.
In the worst-affected countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and Central and Southern Asia, the regions with the greatest burden of newborn and maternal deaths, fewer than 60 per cent of women receive even four of WHO’s recommended eight antenatal checks.
“The death of any woman or young girl during pregnancy or childbirth is a serious violation of their human rights,” Julitta Onabanjo, Director of the Technical Division at the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), said.
Ms Onabanjo explained that it also “reflects the urgent need to scale up access to quality sexual and reproductive health services as part of universal health coverage and primary health care, especially in communities where maternal mortality rates have stagnated or even risen during recent years.”
