CAPE TOWN: Owing to its large birth cohort, India leads a list of 10 countries that together account for 60 per cent of global maternal deaths, stillbirths and newborn deaths, and 51 per cent of live births globally, according to a United Nations report released on Tuesday.
The latest published estimate in the progress tracking report by the WHO, UNICEF, and the UNFPA was launched at the ongoing ‘International Maternal Newborn Health Conference’ (IMNHC 2023) here. It shows there were a combined 4.5 million deaths maternal deaths (0.29 million), stillbirths (1.9 million) and newborn deaths (2.3 million) in 2020-2021.
Sub-Saharan Africa and central and Southern Asia are the regions experiencing the largest number of deaths, although across all regions, there is variation regarding the pace at which countries are progressing in their efforts to achieve the global 2030 targets.
According to the first-ever joint Every Newborn Action Plan (ENAP) and Ending Preventable Maternal Mortality (EPMM) progress tracking report, the global progress in reducing deaths of pregnant women, mothers and babies has flatlined for eight years due to decreasing investments in maternal and newborn health.
“Pregnant women and newborns continue to die at unacceptably high rates worldwide, and the coronavirus pandemic has created further setbacks to providing them with the health care they need,” Dr Anshu Banerjee, Director of Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health and Ageing at the World Health Organisation (WHO), said.
“If we wish to see different results, we must do things differently. More and smarter investments in primary health care are needed so that every woman and baby – no matter where they live – has the best chance of health and survival,” Banerjee said.
India saw 7,88,000 maternal deaths, stillbirths and neonatal deaths in 2020, of the total 4.5 million deaths globally. The country also accounts for 17 per cent of global live births which could be a factor for the large number of maternal deaths, stillbirths and neonatal deaths.
It is followed by Nigeria, Pakistan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Bangladesh and China for maternal deaths, stillbirths and neonatal deaths.