Health
Standstill in the fight against child and maternal mortality
A woman takes refuge with her child after heavy rains in Nowshera, Pakistan. photo
© Muhammad Sajjad/AP/dpa
Every seven seconds there is a birth-related death worldwide. Death would often be avoidable. UN organizations are demanding more money and more self-determination for women.
Around the world, around 4.5 million mothers and babies die each year during pregnancy, childbirth or in the first few weeks of life. UN organizations criticized on Tuesday that due to declining investments in the past eight years, no progress had been made in the fight against these often preventable deaths.
According to a report by the United Nations, the numbers have stagnated since 2015 at around 2.3 million newborn deaths, 1.9 million stillbirths and around 290,000 mothers who died each year. WHO expert Anshu Banerjee called these death rates “unacceptable”. “If we want different results, we have to act differently,” she said.
WHO, the UN Children’s Fund UNICEF and the UN Population Fund UNFPA called for affordable health care and more medical staff as the most important steps to ensure that more mothers and their children survive. In addition, access to medicines, clean water and electricity must be guaranteed.
According to the report, the corona pandemic, rising poverty and humanitarian crises have increased the pressure on health systems in recent years. Out of 100 countries surveyed, only a tenth have enough money to implement their maternal and newborn health plans, the report said. The supply in conflict countries and in parts of Africa and Asia is particularly bad. Maternal and neonatal mortality rates are highest in sub-Saharan Africa and southern Asia, according to the report.
The UN organizations also emphasized that the health of mothers and their babies can only be improved if prejudice and injustice against women are combated. Globally, only about 60 percent of all adolescent girls and women can make free decisions about their sexuality and health, it said.