Pregnancy and childbirth – integral to sexual and reproductive health – are safer than ever, but gains are fragile and uneven.
When women have control over their reproductive choices and access to equitable and quality maternal care, unintended pregnancies drop, maternal deaths decline and women thrive. With that in mind, this year’s theme for World Health Day is “Healthy beginnings, hopeful futures.”
A 40 per cent drop in global maternal mortality since 2000 shows that progress is possible. Yet this headway is not consistent. Weak health systems and new and protracted humanitarian crises have led to stagnating results in several countries and reversals in others.
Health systems face life-threatening gaps in essential medicines, equipment and skilled personnel. While universal coverage by midwives could avert two-thirds of maternal and newborn deaths and stillbirths, there is a chronic global shortage of 900,000 midwives.
Inequities also persist in accessing quality care, based on factors including location, income and race or ethnicity, with marginalized communities most left behind.
Preventing maternal deaths is not a medical mystery. We can end them with political commitment and financial investment.
To that end, maternal health will be in focus this year at the fifty-eighth session of the Commission on Population and Development, which begins on World Health Day and will spotlight the critical importance of ensuring healthy lives and well-being for all, at all ages.
The session will feature a number of side events hosted by UNFPA and partners, including the launch of the Global Action Plan for Midwifery – a call to action designed to rally the maternal health community and drive political commitment to strengthen midwifery models of care. You can learn more about side events and get involved here.
