Child and maternal deaths drop

Global child and maternal deaths have fallen sharply in recent decades, but new UN statistics released on Thursday show unequal progress, with more than five childbirths a minute ending in tragedy.

“In countries that provide everyone with safe, affordable, high-quality health services, women and babies survive and thrive,” World Health Organisation chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said after the release of two reports by several UN agencies.

Since the turn of the century, the number of deaths under the age of five has been cut almost in half to about 5.3-million worldwide in 2018. Almost half of those occurred during the first month of life, meaning that about 7,000 newborns still died every single day in 2018.

The number of women dying due to complications during pregnancy and childbirth dropped by more than a third to about 295,000 in 2017, from 451,000 in 2000. While this marks a huge improvement, about 800 women still died each day from such complications in 2017.

In all, the statistics reveal that an estimated 2.8-million women and newborns die every year, mostly from preventable causes. “Around the world, birth is a joyous occasion. Yet, every 11 seconds, a birth is a family tragedy,” head of the UN children’s agency Henrietta Fore said.

“A skilled pair of hands to help mothers and newborns around the time of birth, along with clean water, adequate nutrition, basic medicines and vaccines, can make the difference between life and death,” she said. “We must do all it takes to invest in universal health coverage to save these precious lives.”

Stark inequalities persist around the world in accessing the services and care needed to ensure safe childbirth.

Sub-Saharan Africa has the most dire situation, with maternal deaths nearly 50 times higher than in high-income countries, and with babies there 10 times more likely to die.

In 2018, one of every 13 children died before a fifth birthday, compared to one in 196 in Europe. At the same time, one out of every 37 women in sub-Saharan Africa dies in childbirth. By comparison, only one out every 6,500 women in Europe have a lifetime chance of dying in childbirth.

Under the Sustainable Development Goals, the world has committed to bring the global maternal mortality ratio to below 70 deaths per 100,000 live births by 2030. The UN warned that at the current pace, the world will miss the target by more than 1-million lives.

Maternal mortality ratios actually increased in 13 countries between 2000 and 2017. A number of those were places facing conflict or crisis, such as Syria and Venezuela.

But the US showed the greatest increase, with the ratio soaring by 58% over the 17year-period to 19 deaths for every 100,000 live births.