Maternal mortality dropping but still unacceptably high - new estimates

16 May 2012 - WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA and The World Bank issue new global, regional and country estimates of maternal mortality. Although between 1990 and 2010, maternal mortality worldwide dropped by 47%, still every day, around 800 women die from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. Almost all of these deaths occurr in low-resource settings. The updated estimates use available national data on maternal mortality to characterize levels and trends of maternal mortality for 180 countries. This analysis involves a larger dataset than previous rounds and updates estimates for 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005, and 2010.

• Trends in maternal mortality: 1990 to 2010

2 May 2012 - Every year 15 million babies are born preterm (more than 1 in 10 live births); more than 1 million die due to preterm complications. Preterm birth is the leading cause of newborn deaths and the second leading cause of death in children under 5, after pneumonia. Two thirds of the more than 1 million babies who die annually as a result of being born too soon could be saved if current cost-effective interventions were made available to all. This first-ever report on preterm birth is a joint effort of almost 50 international, regional and national organizations, and the estimates of preterm birth levels and trends presented reflect the collaborative work of WHO/RHR/HRP, Save the Children, and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

• Born Too Soon: The Global Action Report on Preterm Birth

19 January 2012 - After a period of substantial decline, the global abortion rate has stalled, according to new research from WHO and the Guttmacher Institute. Between 1995 and 2003 the abortion rate per 1000 women of childbearing worldwide dropped from 35 to 29; the new study found that in 2008 the global abortion rate was 28 per 1000, almost unchanged since 2003. The researchers also found that nearly half of all abortions worldwide are unsafe procedures and almost all unsafe abortions occur in the developing world.

• See Lancet article
• Comment
• Fact sheet

14 April 2011 - Some 2.6 million stillbirths occurred worldwide in 2009, according to the first comprehensive set of estimates published in a special series of The Lancet. Every day more than 7200 babies are stillborn — a death just when parents expect to welcome a new life — and 98% of them occur in low- and middle-income countries. Well-known interventions for improving maternal and newborn health would reduce the number of stillbirths too.

• News release
• Lancet Series on Stillbirth
• More information on stillbirth