This month, while celebrating Mother’s day in numerous countries, let’s remember an alarming reality: every year, approximately 260,000 women die due to complications related to pregnancy and childbirth. This means that approximately 712 women die every day worldwide for complications such as severe bleeding, sepsis, eclampsia, clogged births and complications of insecure abortion, among the main causes.
It is possible to save these lives guaranteeing that women have access to prenatal care, qualified assistance during childbirth, emergency obstetric care and postnatal services, even in high -risk humanitarian environments. “We must urgently improve through investment in family planning and addressing the global scarcity of obstetric personnel, so that all women receive the essential attention they need. We have the tools, knowledge and resources to end the avoidable maternal deaths. What is now required is political will,” says Natalia Kanem, executive director of UNFPA.
In many cases, discrimination and inequalities related to location, income and breed or ethnicity deprive women of their sexual and reproductive freedom, as well as adequate maternal care. Even in the richest countries, which, on average, enjoy high standards of health care, maternal mortality rates are disproportionately higher among marginalized groups.
The UNFPA supports the training and deployment of targets and other health professionals, providing health systems with the necessary medicines and supplies to make safe births, even in areas affected by disasters. No woman should lose her life by giving life.
Reduce maternal mortality: a pending debt to Peru’s women
In 2023, five maternal deaths in the country were recorded every week. North-era, South-Andina and Rural areas concentrate the highest rates, reflecting serious inequities in access to health services and persistent poverty levels, which limit the ability of women-especially adolescents and young people-to make informed decisions about their sexual and reproductive health.
-Deep territorial and population inequalities affect that almost a third of women do not access the recommended minimum of four prenatal controls or receive adequate postnatal attention. For more than a decade, obstetric hemorrhages continue to be responsible for one in four maternal deaths.
An advance that still leaves many behind
In the last decade, the number of maternal deaths decreased from 409 in 2014 to 244 in 2024. Although this decrease represents an advance, worrying gaps still persist. In 2024, 14.3% of maternal deaths corresponded to girls and adolescents under 19, an increase compared to 10.9% recorded in 2019.
Adolescent pregnancy and unwanted fertility: persistent challenges
Significant differences between the desired and real fertility persist, especially in rural areas. Despite a national tendency towards decrease in the number of children, regional disparities remain marked.
Teenagers face additional barriers: at least 6% of young women between 12 and 17 have been pregnant in regions such as Amazonas, Loreto and Ucayali. These figures reveal a reality that requires urgent and comprehensive responses.
Urgent actions, sustainable solutions
To eliminate avoidable maternal deaths, Peru must strengthen the implementation of plans and strategies based on territorial and intersectional evidence, which integrate the gender approach and intercultural relevance. This implies:
- An effective articulation between sectors and levels of government.
- The active involvement of local governments.
- The deployment of community brigades that bring essential services to the most excluded populations.
- Only in this way will it be possible to ensure that each pregnancy is desired, each safe childbirth, and each adolescent and woman has access to quality and reproductive health health services, without leaving anyone behind.
This mother’s day, we honor all mothers guaranteeing a safe motherhood, a fundamental right for all.
