Why do maternal and newborn deaths continue to occur?

Abstract

According to estimates in 2015, there were 303,000 maternal deaths, 2.7 million newborn deaths and 2.6 million stillbirths. A wide range of factors, from health system dynamics to social determinants of health and underlying health conditions, contribute to this outcome. The highest mortality risk for mothers and their babies is on the day of birth, and most of these deaths are preventable. The largest burden of deaths occurs in low-income countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, due to their young population and high fertility. Substantial reductions in maternal and newborn mortality have been achieved between 1990 and 2015, but it has not been fast enough and stillbirths continue to remain uncounted in many national vital statistics systems. Lack of a universal definition and classification system for stillbirths is an obstacle for preventing stillbirths, hindering the design of effective interventions.

Keywords: epidemiology; maternal mortality; neonatal mortality; perinatal mortality; social determinants of health; stillbirth.