Quote of the Day
“Access to quality maternal health services is a right, not a privilege.”
— Natalia Kanem, UNFPA Executive Director
Those words came from United Nations Population Fund Executive Director Natalia Kanem when UN agencies released their latest global maternal-mortality estimates. Her full statement called for health systems capable of protecting every pregnant woman and newborn.
There is something unsettling about the word privilege here.
Pregnancy happens in rich homes and poor homes.
Labour can become dangerous in a city hospital or in a village hours away from one.
A woman does not get to choose whether she will suddenly begin bleeding heavily. She cannot negotiate with an infection. She cannot tell a medical emergency to wait until transport arrives.
Yet where she lives, how much money her family has, whether a health worker is nearby and whether a hospital has the people and supplies it needs can help determine whether she survives.
We sometimes speak about health systems as though they were mainly buildings, budgets and government programmes.
But eventually every health system becomes personal.
It becomes a woman on a bed.
A family waiting outside.
A newborn taking a first breath.
And somebody hoping that help arrives in time.
Source: WHO — Aid cuts threaten fragile progress in ending maternal deaths, UN agencies warn
Did You Know?
About 70% of the world’s maternal deaths occurred in sub-Saharan Africa in 2023.
That is roughly 182,000 women in a single year.
The latest estimates from the World Health Organization, UNICEF, UNFPA, the World Bank Group and the UN Population Division show both progress and a troubling inequality.
Between 2000 and 2023, sub-Saharan Africa reduced its maternal mortality ratio by about 40%. That progress matters. Women are alive today who might not have survived pregnancy or childbirth a generation ago.
But the region still accounted for around 70% of maternal deaths worldwide in 2023. Globally, more than 700 women died each day from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth—approximately one woman every two minutes.
Behind those numbers are ordinary emergencies: severe bleeding, infection, high blood pressure during pregnancy and complications during delivery. WHO says most maternal deaths are preventable, and skilled care before, during and after childbirth can save women’s lives.
Think about what that means for a family.
A woman leaves home to have a baby.
Everyone expects her to return carrying the child.
Sometimes she does not return.
The conversation about maternal mortality therefore cannot end with telling women to attend antenatal appointments. We also have to ask what happens when they seek help.
Is the clinic close enough?
Is a trained health worker there?
Is emergency care available at night?
Can a woman reach it without first finding money for transport?
A right means very little if it disappears at the moment we need it most.
Sources
For discussion: What is the biggest barrier to safer pregnancy and childbirth where you live: distance, cost, staffing, equipment, information—or something else?
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