More women and their children are surviving today than ever before, according to new child and maternal mortality estimates released today by United Nations groups led by UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO).

Since 2000, child deaths have reduced by nearly half and maternal deaths by over one-third, mostly due to improved access to affordable, quality health services.

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO said “In countries that provide everyone with safe, affordable, high-quality health services, women and babies survive and thrive. This is the power of universal health coverage.”  

It indicated, still, the new estimates revealed that 6.2 million children under 15 years died in 2018, and over 290 000 women died due to complications during pregnancy and childbirth in 2017. Of the total child deaths, 5.3 million occurred in the first 5 years, with almost half of these in the first month of life.

Women and newborns are most vulnerable during and immediately after childbirth. An estimated 2.8 million pregnant women and new-borns die every year, or 1 every 11 seconds, mostly of preventable causes, the new estimates say.

It said children faced the highest risk of dying in the first month, especially if they are born too soon or too small, have complications during birth, congenital defects, or contract infections. About a third of these deaths occur within the first day and nearly three quarters in the first week alone.

“Around the world, birth is a joyous occasion. Yet, every 11 seconds, a birth is a family tragedy,” said Henrietta Fore, UNICEF Executive Director.

“A skilled pair of hands to help mothers and newborns around the time of birth, along with clean water, adequate nutrition, basic medicines and vaccines, can make the difference between life and death. We must do all it takes to invest in universal health coverage to save these precious lives.”

The report estimates also show vast inequalities worldwide with women and children in sub-Saharan Africa facing a substantially higher risk of death than in all other regions.

“Levels of maternal deaths are nearly 50 times higher for women in sub-Saharan Africa and their babies are 10 times more likely to die in their first month of life, compared to high-income countries”, the report said.

In 2018, 1 in 13 children in sub-Saharan Africa died before their fifth birthday– this is 15 times higher than the risk a child faces in Europe, where just 1 in 196 children aged less than five die.

According to the report, women in sub-Saharan Africa faced a 1 in 37-lifetime risk of dying during pregnancy or childbirth. By comparison, the lifetime risk for a woman in Europe is 1 in 6500.

Sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia it said accounted for around 80% of global maternal and child deaths. Countries in conflict or humanitarian crisis often have weak health systems that prevented women and children from accessing essential lifesaving care.

It said the world has made substantial progress in reducing child and maternal mortality. Since 1990, there had been a 56% reduction in deaths of children under 15 years from 14.2 million deaths to 6.2 million in 2018. Countries in Eastern and South-Eastern Asia have made the most progress, with an 80% decline in under-five deaths.

And from 2000 to 2017, the maternal mortality ratio had declined by 38%. Southern Asia has made the greatest improvements in maternal survival with a nearly 60% reduction in the maternal mortality ratio since 2000.

Countries like Belarus, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Kazakhstan, Malawi, Morocco, Mongolia, Rwanda, Timor-Leste and Zambia are some of the countries that have shown substantial progress in reducing child or maternal mortality.

It attributed the success to political will to improve access to quality health care by investing in the health workforce, introducing free care for pregnant women and children and supporting family planning.

Many of these countries the report said focussed on primary health care and universal health coverage.