New Delhi, 7 April 2025: Becoming a mother is the most beautiful feeling of life, but this journey is not easy for every woman. From pregnancy to delivery, many times complications put women’s lives in danger. A recent report by the United Nations (UN) has brought this bitter truth to the fore—in the year 2023, one woman died every two minutes during pregnancy or delivery. This figure is not only shocking, but also shows that the global fight against maternal mortality is now on the verge of stagnation and reversal.

Maternal mortality: Improvement halted, danger increased

According to the report of the World Health Organization (WHO), about 2.6 lakh women died in the year 2023 due to complications related to pregnancy or delivery. Since the beginning of the century, the global maternal mortality rate has decreased by 40 percent, which was a major achievement. But after 2016, this progress has almost stopped. Pascale Allotey, head of the WHO’s sexual reproductive health and research branch, says, “Our progress has slowed down. In some areas, the situation is going backwards. This is worrying, because most maternal deaths can be prevented.” The report also revealed that the situation worsened after the COVID-19 pandemic. WHO lead author Jenny Cresswell says, “2.82 lakh maternal deaths were recorded in 2020, which increased to 3.22 lakh in 2021. There were 40,000 additional deaths in just one year.” He says that the pandemic affected health services, which affected pregnant women the most. Crisis deepened due to funding cuts The UN has warned that unprecedented cuts in global aid have made this crisis more serious. After US President Donald Trump came to power again in January 2025, US foreign aid funding was immediately stopped. This affected humanitarian organizations, which used to mobilize the resources needed for maternal health services. “Funding cuts are leading to the closure of health facilities, staff shortages, and disruption of supply chains for life-saving medicines. Diseases such as haemorrhage, pre-eclampsia and malaria, which are major causes of maternal deaths, have become difficult to treat,” a UN statement said.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus expressed deep concern over the situation. He said, “While this report shows a ray of hope, it is also true that pregnancy remains life-threatening in many parts of the world. Every mother has the right to a safe delivery, and we must take immediate steps to achieve this.”

India’s story: Challenges with hope

There was a time when India also had a very high maternal mortality rate. But in the last few decades, due to improved health services and awareness, it has decreased significantly. Still, the global crisis can also affect India. “India has made good progress in maternal health, but there is still a lack of facilities in rural areas. Global funding cuts could impact our efforts,” says health expert Dr. Reena Mehta.

Causes of death and solutions

The report shows that most causes of maternal deaths—such as postpartum hemorrhage, high blood pressure, and infections—are preventable. This requires that pregnant women get timely help from skilled health workers. But this facility is out of reach in poor countries and crisis-hit areas. According to the UN report, 70 percent of maternal deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa, where the health infrastructure is very weak.

Experts believe that to prevent maternal deaths, not only funding will have to be increased, but attention will also have to be paid to the training of midwives, nurses and community health workers. Pascale Allotey says, “We have to ensure that every pregnant woman gets the right treatment at the right time. This is possible, provided we make it a priority.” Way forward

Reducing maternal mortality is part of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which aim to reduce it to 70 per lakh births by 2030. But at the current pace, this goal seems far away. According to Jenny Cresswell, “We have to increase the pace of progress nine times, otherwise we will lose millions of mothers.”

The death of a mother every two minutes is not just a statistic, but the story of the broken hopes of families. It is time for the world to take this crisis seriously and give every mother the protection she deserves.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes. Contact a specialist for health advice.