A woman dies every two minutes due to failures in the mother's health care, according to shocking global data that Starks have led warnings about the impact of cuts to support the financing by the US and the UK.
A new report from the World Health Organization (WHO) has revealed that in 2023 there were 260,000 mother asterfalls, equal to 712 women per day or 30 per hour-with the vast majority in Africa Behuiden de Sahara.
The WHO has warned that the global target for all UN member states to reduce the deaths of mothers – up to 71 per 100,000 in 2030 – will be missed by more than twice this amount because “the pace of the progress is delayed to an almost stoppage”.
Leading health organizations, including the WHO, have warned that recent major cutbacks on international aid by the US government, which amounts to more than £ 595 million ($ 770 million) for maternal health and family planning, “a shift back” in the progress of the progress of the reduction of mother's axis, defeated, defined, defined, defined, defined, defined, defined by the risk of risky, defined by the Death, defined in, defined by the Death, Defining, or Definingly Definingly Definanced. After pregnancy.
During a press conference, Dr. Bruce Aylward, assistant general general of universal health coverage for the WHO, said: “Financing not only leaves that progress, but we can have a shift deterioration.” He said that cutbacks “already influenced life -saving supplies and medicines, and especially treatments for some of the main causes of mother -old”.
“One of the first things they already see is that countries are firing all staff, or not, or they delay that health worker outputs … This is a real concern,” he added.
About 60 countries worldwide depend on programs for mother's care and services for family planning, largely concentrated in Africa and South Asia.
These programs also offer financing for midwives in areas where essential mother care is missing. Reports from sources on the ground indicate that the cancellation of USAID contracts has led to some midwives losing their source of income, leaving women lagging behind without safe care during pregnancy.
But it is not only the US: aids are happening all over the world. In February, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer announced that the government would lower its aid expenditure from 0.5 percent of national income to 0.3 percent in 2027 – a reduction of around £ 6 billion – to pay for increased defense issues.
The announcement came after the Government's International Development Committee (IDC) had warned that UK AID cuts have already had a “devastating” impact on women and girls, with young girls in Sudan being more likely to die during pregnancy than at the school. Labor MP Sarah Champion, chairman of the IDC, said The independent: “I am very concerned that the cuts to help women will hit hard and all the hard -fought progress around the world will destroy.”
Ze voegde eraan toe: “Het voorkomen van sterfgevallen door moeders is geen medisch mysterie; we kunnen hen beëindigen met politieke toewijding en financiële investeringen. Het realiseren van het recht op veilige zwangerschap en de bevalling vereist voortdurende inspanningen om de kwaliteit van de zorg te verbeteren, die moeten worden ondersteund door adequate financiële middelen en ondersteunende wetten … Zwakke gezondheidssystemen en nieuwe en ingewikkelde humanitaire crises hebben de resultaten led from the results in different countries. “
Sub-Saharan Africa and India have the highest death rates
The new WHO figures reveal that one in 36 15-year-old girls in West Africa run the risk of the mother's death. This is compared to 1 in 16,000 in South Europe.
Since 2000, global mother dying rates have fallen by 40 percent, from 328 per 100,000 living births to 197 in 2023. However, the figures reveal inequalities in countries with a high and low income.
Dr. Pascale Allotey, Director of the Department of Sexual and Reproductive Health at the Who, Warned: “Despite Advances Since 2000, The Pace of Progress has Slowed to a Near Standstill. In some regions, We are alreaDy sliding BACNOXT, ITCACENCY. Is deadly … when women that it is or where they live, what they earn, or what rights are denied, it is indefensible, and it is prevention. ”
According to the report, half of all mother's axisies were registered in 2023 in Nigeria, India, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Pakistan. Nigeria was only good for one in three dead, with around 75,000 dead in 2023, while 70 percent of the dead took place in Africa Bezuiden de Saharan.
The most important international organization in the world focused on the reproductive health of women, the United Nations Fund (UNFPA) Fund, has also warned that recent American financing reductions to help will risk an increase in mother's death rates.
Estations of UNFPA show that £ 71 million ($ 92 million) of American aid is divided into Nigeria, where the death rates are highest. UNPFA itself has lost £ 291 million ($ 377 million) on subsidies after the cutbacks on USAID.
Julia Bunting, program director for UNFPA, said The independent That, although progress has been made in the world's reduction of mother asterfalls, it is “by no means fast enough”. She said: “We know that since 2000 there has been a 40 percent decrease in the mother's death rates, but … the progress is uneven and slows.”
She added: “These lives can be saved … It is not just a matter of health. It is a matter of rights; it is a matter of justice. We believe that every woman should earn to survive the birth … We know how we can prevent these deaths: with competent obstetricians, quality assurance and political commitment are already all of these lives, but er lots of these are much of these lives, but er lots of these are much of these. entered into. “
Although UNFPA has had to deal with cutbacks on his financing of USAID, Monica Ferro, director of the London Representation Office of the organization, confirmed that it still has to reduce his financing by the VK, the second largest donor.
However, she warned: “The combination of cutbacks, the increasing frequency of conflicts and the effects of climate change means that pregnant women have no access to life -saving care and gender -based violence. We cannot abandon the women and girls who need us the most.”
The cabinet office was approached for comment.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said: “We are committed to defending and promoting sexual and reproductive health and rights, and we will continue to work with international partners to support women and girls.
“Help is just one way in which we support this work, and we will continue to use targeted financing and diplomatic involvement to offer leadership on gender issues and health health.
“Protecting our national security is the first duty of every government, and with that required the difficult but necessary decision to reduce our honors expenditure.”
A spokesperson for the US Department of Foreign Affairs said that the US government has offered long-term support for life-saving mother and child health services in countries with a lower income where the vast majority of all the deaths in the mother and children perform.
This report was produced as part of the independent Reconsideration of global help project
