The number of maternal deaths are increasingly concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa
and South Asia, where 86 percent of all maternal deaths occurred in 2017, according to the Every Woman Every Child Progress report.

However, Development Diaries understands that the number of maternal deaths worldwide dropped from an estimated 451,000 in 2000 to 295,000 in 2017, a reduction of about 35 percent, with the most significant declines occurring since 2010.

‘The report is a reality check. A reminder of how far we have come, and how far we have to go’, UNICEF Executive Director, Henrietta Fore, remarked at the launch of the report.

The Every Woman Every Child project, which was launched in 2010 by the UN Secretary-General at the time, Ban Ki-moon, is a global movement that addresses the major health challenges facing women, children and adolescents.

The report noted that the mortality rate for children aged under five years declined by almost 50 percent between 2000 and 2019, from 76 deaths per 1,000 live births to 38.

Also, the neonatal mortality rate declined at a slower pace during this same period,
from 30 deaths per 1,000 live births to 17, a 42 percent decrease, according to the report.

Furthermore, it was learnt that an increasing proportion of child deaths are now occurring during the neonatal period in sub-Saharan Africa, the only subregion where the child population is expected to grow in the coming decades, and among the most disadvantaged population groups in all countries.

Fore, whose remark was delivered by the UNICEF Deputy Executive Director for Programmes, Omar Abdi, said that since the launch of the project, more than one billion children have been vaccinated.

‘Every 13 seconds, a newborn baby dies. Every hour, 33 women die during childbirth. And one million adolescents die each year from preventable causes’, she added.

‘We must accelerate. We must do better. And we must do more – especially in those areas where over 80 percent of these deaths are concentrated – sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

‘While these trends predate the pandemic, we must face the fact that Covid-19 has added a new urgency to our work’.

The UNICEF director called on world leaders to make bold investments in primary health care systems at the community level.

‘Women and children must be able to access the services they need, where they live’, she added.

‘These investments and actions will also bring us one step closer to our shared goal of universal health coverage. An essential ingredient in a better, fairer and healthier world’.

Fore said that investments in health systems must also be matched by equally bold investments in all of the systems that support good health.

Source: UNICEF

Photo source: UNICEF Ethiopia