Maternal mortality: An overview

Abstract

Globally, maternal mortality has declined by more than a third from
2000 to 2017. However, despite many countries' progress in achieving
the Millenium Development Goals, South Africa failed to achieve the
target in 2015. While progress has been made in sub-Saharan Africa, the
sustainable development goals and the United Nations' Global Strategy
for Women's, Children's and Adolescent’s Health (2016-2030) seek to
reduce the global maternal mortality ratio (MMR) to 70 deaths per
100 000 live births, while also highlighting the importance of moving
beyond survival. The probability of reaching this goal in most sub-
Saharan Africa is highly questionable, given that most countries have
shown little or no change in their MMR. If this is not achieved in a
country, the goals are to reduce the 2010 baseline MMR by at least twothirds
and that no country should have an MMR over 140.