Women in Africa are 400 times more likely to die during childbirth
Focus on quality services and healthcare worker skills paramount
A woman still dies every two minutes due to complications during pregnancy or childbirth – an estimated 260 000 in 2023.
Preventable deaths among pregnant women are deeply rooted in poverty and inequality and occur most frequently in low- and middle-income countries and communities – the same countries and communities, including Namibia, that are being hardest hit by the decline in global health funding.
According to a report, “Trends in maternal mortality estimates 2000 to 2023', a woman in sub-Saharan Africa is 400 times more likely to die during childbirth than, for example, a woman in Australia or New Zealand.
And while efforts are being made to expand access to services for pregnant women, it is just as important – if not more so – to focus on the quality of those services and the skills of healthcare workers.
In the many cases where compensation is claimed from Namibia’s health ministry following the death of a mother and/or baby during childbirth, blame is often placed on the alleged lack of, or minimal, care provided by medical staff.
The report emphasises that the health system plays a central role in shaping women’s experiences and outcomes during pregnancy.
"Access to safe, quality, respectful and affordable sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services is an integral part of protecting rights and improving trust in institutions and services," the report notes.
Weak health systems, characterised by an insufficient number of well-trained and skilled healthcare workers, shortages of essential medical supplies, and a lack of accountability that has plagued Namibia's public health sector for years, lead to poor healthcare.
Strengthening such a health system by increasing the number of trained personnel, ensuring proper supervision of healthcare workers, and addressing shortages of medical supplies, as the report highlights, can ensure universal coverage of high-quality health services for all pregnant women.
In control
The report, a joint publication by the World Health Organisation (WHO), UNICEF, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the World Bank Group, and the Population Division of UNDESA, emphasises that when the rights of girls and women are protected and they have access to the services and information they need to control their lives and bodies, unintended pregnancies, unsafe abortions, and maternal deaths decrease. At the same time, opportunities to participate in education and the workforce increase.
The report, which was released on the eve of World Health Day, is focused on the care of pregnant women and newborn babies for a 12-month period. It stresses that deaths among pregnant women should not be shrouded in secrecy.
“We know why this happens, and we have the tools to prevent it. The question is not whether we can prevent preventable deaths among pregnant women, but whether we will,” the report states.
Limited progress has been made in reducing the maternal mortality rate during the first half of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) era. In 2023, an estimated 260 000 women worldwide died from pregnancy-related causes. This is equivalent to more than 700 deaths every day, or an estimated one death every two minutes.
This figure is significantly lower than the estimated 443 000 maternal deaths in 2000. Sub-Saharan Africa was responsible for about 70% of these deaths and was the only SDG region with a high mortality rate, at an estimated 454 deaths per 100 000 live births.
Four countries, including Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), were, according to the report, responsible for nearly half of all maternal deaths in 2023.
The report also emphasises that nearly all of these deaths are preventable, either due to direct causes such as severe postpartum bleeding, high blood pressure disorders, and unsafe abortions, or indirect causes such as diabetes, pre-existing high blood pressure disorders, or infections during pregnancy.
Continue to improve
According to WHO’s director-general, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the world has made significant progress in the fight against maternal deaths since the turn of the century, with a 40% reduction between 2000 and 2023.
Ghebreyesus said this progress has been achieved thanks to advances in research and service delivery.
However, progress has seen a downward trend since 2016, and the reduction in maternal deaths remains too slow to achieve the SDGs by 2030.
“Today, somewhere in the world, a woman still dies every two minutes due to complications during pregnancy or childbirth – an estimated 260 000 in 2023," he said.
Ghebreyesus cautioned that “numbers can numb us”, but it is essential that these incidents are not considered normal.
“It is when we know that all the women in this report could have survived their pregnancies and deliveries if they had had sufficient access to life-saving care before, during, and after childbirth.”
Instead, many have inadequate or no access to contraception, have been denied control over their pregnancies due to violence, or have received no post-delivery monitoring.
Others arrived too late at healthcare facilities, only to find them poorly equipped, lacking the necessary interventions, medications, or the ability to prevent, detect, or treat life-threatening complications such as severe bleeding and infection.
According to a report, “Trends in maternal mortality estimates 2000 to 2023', a woman in sub-Saharan Africa is 400 times more likely to die during childbirth than, for example, a woman in Australia or New Zealand.
And while efforts are being made to expand access to services for pregnant women, it is just as important – if not more so – to focus on the quality of those services and the skills of healthcare workers.
In the many cases where compensation is claimed from Namibia’s health ministry following the death of a mother and/or baby during childbirth, blame is often placed on the alleged lack of, or minimal, care provided by medical staff.
The report emphasises that the health system plays a central role in shaping women’s experiences and outcomes during pregnancy.
"Access to safe, quality, respectful and affordable sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services is an integral part of protecting rights and improving trust in institutions and services," the report notes.
Weak health systems, characterised by an insufficient number of well-trained and skilled healthcare workers, shortages of essential medical supplies, and a lack of accountability that has plagued Namibia's public health sector for years, lead to poor healthcare.
Strengthening such a health system by increasing the number of trained personnel, ensuring proper supervision of healthcare workers, and addressing shortages of medical supplies, as the report highlights, can ensure universal coverage of high-quality health services for all pregnant women.
In control
The report, a joint publication by the World Health Organisation (WHO), UNICEF, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the World Bank Group, and the Population Division of UNDESA, emphasises that when the rights of girls and women are protected and they have access to the services and information they need to control their lives and bodies, unintended pregnancies, unsafe abortions, and maternal deaths decrease. At the same time, opportunities to participate in education and the workforce increase.
The report, which was released on the eve of World Health Day, is focused on the care of pregnant women and newborn babies for a 12-month period. It stresses that deaths among pregnant women should not be shrouded in secrecy.
“We know why this happens, and we have the tools to prevent it. The question is not whether we can prevent preventable deaths among pregnant women, but whether we will,” the report states.
Limited progress has been made in reducing the maternal mortality rate during the first half of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) era. In 2023, an estimated 260 000 women worldwide died from pregnancy-related causes. This is equivalent to more than 700 deaths every day, or an estimated one death every two minutes.
This figure is significantly lower than the estimated 443 000 maternal deaths in 2000. Sub-Saharan Africa was responsible for about 70% of these deaths and was the only SDG region with a high mortality rate, at an estimated 454 deaths per 100 000 live births.
Four countries, including Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), were, according to the report, responsible for nearly half of all maternal deaths in 2023.
The report also emphasises that nearly all of these deaths are preventable, either due to direct causes such as severe postpartum bleeding, high blood pressure disorders, and unsafe abortions, or indirect causes such as diabetes, pre-existing high blood pressure disorders, or infections during pregnancy.
Continue to improve
According to WHO’s director-general, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the world has made significant progress in the fight against maternal deaths since the turn of the century, with a 40% reduction between 2000 and 2023.
Ghebreyesus said this progress has been achieved thanks to advances in research and service delivery.
However, progress has seen a downward trend since 2016, and the reduction in maternal deaths remains too slow to achieve the SDGs by 2030.
“Today, somewhere in the world, a woman still dies every two minutes due to complications during pregnancy or childbirth – an estimated 260 000 in 2023," he said.
Ghebreyesus cautioned that “numbers can numb us”, but it is essential that these incidents are not considered normal.
“It is when we know that all the women in this report could have survived their pregnancies and deliveries if they had had sufficient access to life-saving care before, during, and after childbirth.”
Instead, many have inadequate or no access to contraception, have been denied control over their pregnancies due to violence, or have received no post-delivery monitoring.
Others arrived too late at healthcare facilities, only to find them poorly equipped, lacking the necessary interventions, medications, or the ability to prevent, detect, or treat life-threatening complications such as severe bleeding and infection.
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