Every two minutes, a woman dies from complications of pregnancy or childbirth across the world, or around 800 deaths per day, a number that has stagnated since 2016. More than a quarter is due to “post-partum hemorrhage.” partum”: excessive bleeding (more than half a liter) which occurs during childbirth or in the twenty-four hours following it. These deaths are often preventable.
“We know the interventions that work to prevent these deaths, but we fail to implement them,” lamented Olufemi Oladapo, director of the reproductive health department of the World Health Organization (WHO), Wednesday October 11 in Paris, announcing an initiative by the latter on the subject: the definition of an agenda setting, over the period 2023-2030, priorities for action to reduce the burden of this maternal mortality. The intervention took place within the framework of the 24e congress of the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO), a high mass which brings together more than 8,000 experts from many countries, from October 9 to 12.
“Of the 140 million women who give birth each year in the world, 6 to 10% experience postpartum hemorrhage, or 8.4 to 14 million women”, recalled Suellen Miller, of the University of California at San Francisco. If we intervened at all stages – antenatal prevention of anemia, early detection of hemorrhage, rapid implementation of treatments – the number of maternal deaths could be reduced by 80%, according to this gynecologist-obstetrician. “I am happy that WHO has published its first roadmap on postpartum hemorrhage”, said Hadiza Galadanci of Bayero University in Kano, Nigeria. A document developed following a summit organized by the WHO in March, in Dubai, which brought together more than 130 experts.
“An absolute emergency”
Low- and middle-income countries pay the heaviest price: more than 99% of these maternal deaths are concentrated there, including 70% in sub-Saharan Africa and 28% in Asia (15% in South Asia). Three priorities were identified by the experts: improving the supply systems for medicines and treatment materials; address chronic shortages of qualified health personnel (midwives, nurses, doctors); strengthen training programs. A fourth issue is crucial: tackling everything that hinders women’s access to care – by strengthening their rights, reducing their costs, improving means of transport, etc.
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