The Facts:
Around the world, women needlessly die each day or suffer severe injuries resulting from untreated pregnancy complications.
Globally:
- Nearly 530,000 women die each year from pregnancy-related causes; that is 1400 women a day, one woman every sixty seconds.
- In over 99 % of the cases, it's women in developing nations who suffer death or injury. In these countries, maternal mortality is the leading cause of death among women of reproductive age.
- In West Africa, one women in 13 women will die in pregnancy and childbirth. In Northern Europe, one in 3,900 will die.
- As a result of maternal death, over one million children are left motherless each year. Compared to children with both living parents, these children are 3 to 10 times more likely to die within two years of their mother’s death.
- Approximately 50,000 to 100,000 obstetric fistula cases occur each year in developing countries. This debilitating condition results from prolonged or obstructed labor and leaves women incontinent.
In the United States, death from pregnancy and/or labor is far less common than in the developing world, however potential and harmful health problems still occur.
In the United States:
- Over 30% of pregnant women will experience some type of illness or injury during childbirth. The most common pregnancy complications experienced by American women include, ectopic pregnancy, premature labor, hemorrhage, blood clots, high blood pressure, infection, stroke, amniotic fluid in the bloodstream, diabetes, and heart disease.
- Approximately 700 to 1100 women die of pregnancy complications every year in the United States. The rate has remained stagnant for over 20 years.
- Disparities in age, ethnicity, and race also contribute to maternal illness and death. The risk of death for African American women is almost four times that for white women…
What Can Be Done:
- Ensure women worldwide have access to safe and accessible pregnancy-related care, through implementation of national goals and international declarations, such as Healthy People 2010 and the ICPD Programme of Action. Recommendations to address maternal health, illness, and death include:
- Expand maternal health care services
- Prevent, detect, and manage high-risk pregnancies and births
- Provide for the nutritional needs of women of reproductive age, especially those who are pregnant or breastfeeding
- Address the public health concern of unsafe abortion
- Improve access to family planning counseling and information
- Ensure men share responsibility for sexual and reproductive health
- Provide trained attendents at birth
Other efforts include:
- Making Pregnancy Safer Initiative
- Millennium Development Goals
- Safe Motherhood Initiative
- CDC Child Health and Maternal Health
Expert Resources:
International Planned Parenthood Federation
Department of Health and Human Services
