Eliminating maternal mortality could extend women’s life expectancy
Eliminating maternal mortality, defined as deaths related to pregnancy, would result in a gain of over a half year in life expectancy worldwide, according to a new study by researchers at Johns Hopkins University.
The project was funded by The Bill and Melinda Gates Institute for Population and Reproductive Health and the European Research Council.
Maternal death rates represent the single largest health discrepancy between developed and developing populations. Over 99% of maternal deaths worldwide occur in developing countries, and over half of them in sub-Saharan Africa.
Over the 20th C, women’s life expectancy in developed countries increased by 0.5 years due to a near elimination of maternal mortality. In sub-Saharan African countries, the possible achievable gains from eliminating maternal mortality fluctuate between 0.24 and 1.47 years, or 6% and 44% of potential gains.
Lead author Vladimir Canudas-Romo said: “This gain in life expectancy may seem a small increase at a first glance, but the added survival time takes place during the most productive ages of human life and carries with it non-trivial socioeconomic implications for families, workforces, and communities.”
The study focuses on women’s reproductive age life expectancy – the ages between 15-49. Eliminating maternal deaths will lead to a significant increase to what many consider the most productive ages of human life. Another benefit would be improved healthcare, since one underlying assumption of maternal mortality is that it stems from insufficient health services.
Canudas-Romo added: “If programmes that help promote female education, increase access to skilled birth attendants, expand access to family planning care and collect health information properly all continue to work together to reduce maternal mortality, the increase [in life expectancy] suggested in our results will be eventually achieved.”
The United Nations estimates that 287,000 maternal deaths occurred worldwide in 2010, with over half in sub-Saharan Africa. The estimated maternal mortality ratio in sub-Saharan Africa is 500 deaths per 100,000 live births, more than double the estimated 210 deaths per 100,000 live births worldwide.
