Maternal deaths drop worldwide says Lancet

April 14, 2010 by Shawn Douglas
Filed under: News

Maternal deaths have decreased nearly 40 percent worldwide since 1980, according to new research published in the journal The Lancet.

Many in the medical community were surprised when The Lancet published research results Monday that showed that the number of women who have died during pregnancy and childbirth each year has decreased worldwide, from 526,300 in 1980 to 342,900 in 2008.

The study, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, runs contrary to a World Health Organization-led report released Tuesday that stated 350,000 to 500,000 women die each year worldwide from birth and pregnancy complications.

The discrepancy may be explained by Richard Horton, editor of The Lancet. Horton claims that he was pressured by maternal health advocates to delay publishing the encouraging report in the Lancet until September, shortly after several major fundraising campaigns would be completed.

In a commentary Horton published in The Lancet, he talked about the pressure he was under not to publish the story.

He said: “The justification… was several fold: potential political damage to maternal advocacy campaigns; confusion among countries, policymakers, and the media given the difference between this maternal mortality estimate and the previous UN number; undermining progress on global commitments to maternal health; and the risk of an unproductive academic debate while women continued to die.

“Although well intentioned, these requests to slow the pace of scientific discussion for political considerations are likely to be far more damaging than fostering a serious debate about progress in reducing maternal mortality as and when new data appear.”

Horton declined to say which groups or individuals were pressuring him.

Dr. Flavia Bustreo, the director for WHO-led Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health, said that the report released on Tuesday didn’t contradict the Lancet’s published data, and that her group was not involved in pressuring the Lancet.

“The debate on numbers may continue,” Bustreo told the Associated Press. “But we welcome this as good news. There is hope at last for maternal health.”

According to the report in The Lancet, progress has varied across the world. In the Maldives, maternal mortality rates dropped 8.8 percent a year, but in Zimbabwe, the rate rose 5.5 percent a year. Six countries accounted for more than half of maternal deaths around the world in 2008: India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

But progress has been evident in both India and China since 1980, according to the report. Maternal mortality rates fell from 408 to 1080 deaths per every 100,000 in 1980 in India to 154 to 395 in 2008. China also saw reductions 144 to 187 per 100,000 in 1980, and 35 to 46 in 2008.