One death every 2 minutes: WHO sounds alarm on global maternal health crisis
By Martin Oduor, March 8, 2025A new report from the World Health Organization (WHO) has laid bare a grim reality – maternal deaths remain stubbornly high, with an estimated one woman dying every two minutes due to complications from pregnancy and childbirth.
Despite decades of medical advances, nearly 287,000 women lost their lives in 2020 alone, highlighting glaring inequalities in healthcare access across the world.
“In 2020, there were an estimated 287 000 maternal deaths in total – equivalent to one death every two minutes,” WHO stated in its report.
The study, published in The Lancet Global Health and shared by WHO on March 8, 2025, marks the first comprehensive update on maternal mortality since the adoption of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015.
It identifies severe bleeding (haemorrhage) and hypertensive disorders, such as preeclampsia, as the leading causes of maternal deaths, responsible for nearly half of all fatalities.
Other causes include sepsis, embolism, complications from unsafe abortions, and pre-existing conditions like HIV/AIDS, malaria, and diabetes – many of which go untreated due to inadequate healthcare infrastructure.
A crisis of inequality
The burden of maternal mortality is not shared equally.
WHO data reveals that low- and middle-income countries account for more than 90 per cent of all maternal deaths, with sub-Saharan Africa bearing the highest toll.
In stark contrast, maternal deaths in high-income nations remain significantly lower, largely due to better access to prenatal care, emergency obstetrics, and postpartum monitoring.
“Understanding why pregnant women and mothers are dying is critical for tackling the world’s lingering maternal mortality crisis and ensuring women have the best possible chances of surviving childbirth,” Dr Pascale Allotey, Director of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Research at WHO as well as the UN’s Special Programme on Human Reproduction (HRP), said.
“This is also a massive equity issue globally – women everywhere need high quality, evidence-based health care before, during and after delivery, as well as efforts to prevent and treat other underlying conditions that jeopardize their health,” she added.
In some countries, conflict, economic instability, and weakened healthcare systems have exacerbated the crisis – WHO says.
The global health agency highlighted that in Sudan, Afghanistan, and parts of the Sahel region, inadequate access to maternal healthcare has led to preventable deaths – many of which could have been avoided with timely medical intervention.
Preventable deaths
What is particularly troubling to researchers is that most maternal deaths are preventable.
According to the WHO report, early detection of risk factors such as hypertension, anaemia, and infections could significantly reduce complications.
Yet, nearly one-third of women globally do not receive essential postnatal checkups, leaving them vulnerable to life-threatening complications in the days and weeks following childbirth.
“We are failing mothers,” said Dr. Jenny Cresswell, a WHO scientist and co-author of the study.
“Haemorrhage alone accounts for 27 per cent of maternal deaths, yet we have known, effective interventions to treat it. The challenge is ensuring these treatments reach the women who need them most.”
In 2024, WHO and its partners launched a Global Roadmap for Postpartum Haemorrhage, which lays out key strategies for tackling one of the deadliest complications of childbirth.
Additionally, in the same year, the World Health Assembly, comprising 194 countries, passed a resolution committing to improving quality maternal care before, during, and after pregnancy.
But for many maternal health advocates, these pledges ring hollow without concrete action.
“The global community has made promise after promise to reduce maternal deaths, yet we are still losing one woman every two minutes. We need investment, accountability, and most importantly, political will,” Dr. Atul Gawande, a public health expert and maternal health advocate, stated.
Way forward
With maternal mortality rates stagnating and, in some cases, worsening, World Health Day 2025 has been dedicated to maternal and newborn health in a bid to drive global attention to the crisis.
WHO officials say the campaign will push for universal access to skilled birth attendants, emergency obstetric care, and postpartum health services, particularly in low-resource settings.
Beyond survival, experts emphasize the need for holistic maternal care, including mental health support and postnatal care – areas that remain severely underfunded in many countries.