Statistics on Maternal Mortality
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Maternal death, or maternal mortality, is the death of a woman during or shortly after a pregnancy. More than half a million women die during pregnancy or childbirth every year, and many millions suffer from inadequately treated complications. About half of these deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa and about one third occur in South Asia – the two regions together account for about 85 per cent of all maternal deaths. In sub-Saharan Africa, a woman’s risk of maternal death is 1 in 22, compared with 1 in 8.000 in developed countries.
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These are the major causes of maternal mortality, as well as the basic remedies:
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There has been some progress for some indicators, for example the number of assisted deliveries:
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Maternal mortality also severely impacts on the children who are left motherless. These children are 10 times more likely than their peers to die within two years of their mothers’ deaths. Young girls who survice are often forced to leave school to care for siblings, and hence diminish their chances of avoiding poverty later in life.
There is a strong correlation between the age of the mother and maternal mortality. Girls between the ages of l0 and 14 are five times more likely to die in pregnancy or childbirth than women aged 20-24. Girls between the ages of 15 and 19 are twice as likely to die:
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Here’s a graph showing the influence of abortion restrictions on maternal mortality:
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