Mom Mortality Rate Higher in Developing Countries: WHO African women 175 times more likely to die in childbirth
According to new statistics from the World Health Organization (WHO), the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and UN Population Fund (UNFPA), a woman living in sub-Saharan Africa has a 1 in 16 chance of dying in pregnancy or childbirth, while one out of 2,800 women has the risk in the developed regions.
Of the estimated 529,000 maternal deaths in 2000, 95 percent occurred in Africa and Asia, while only 4 percent occurred in Latin America and the Caribbean, and less than 1 percent in the more developed regions of the world, reported China View. UNICEF experts hold that reducing maternal mortality is a key factor in ensuring that all children, especially in the world's poorest countries, survive and thrive through adolescence.
