Around the world, too many mothers are dying.

In fact, more than 700 women die each day from pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum complications.

That’s approximately one woman every two minutes. 

Why are mothers dying before, during, and after childbirth?

This is a complex problem with no simple answer.

These are the clinical causes, or underlying medical reasons or conditions, of maternal mortality around the world:

  • Hemorrhage 26.7%
  • Indirect Causes 23%
  • Hypertensive Disorders/Eclampsia 16.1%
  • Sepsis/Infection 6.6%
  • Other Direct Causes 9.8%
  • Unsafe Abortion 8.4%
  • Embolism 7.4%
But this doesn’t tell the whole story.

There are several systems-level factors that also contribute to poor maternal health outcomes and experiences of care.

Big Picture Factors

The foundational elements that shape living conditions, sometimes referred to as the "'super' determinants of health".

  • Political Landscapes: Political instability, conflict, and violence often destabilize health systems and public infrastructure, impacting nearly all aspects of life, including access to quality care.
  • Environmental Factors: Climate-related disasters can impact maternal health by disrupting healthcare services, forcing migration, increasing the spread of diseases, and exacerbating existing drivers of poor outcomes, like food insecurity.
  • Economic Systems: Structural decisions about how our economies function, including insurance and healthcare systems, can support or hinder health and wellbeing.

Social Factors

The conditions in which people are born, grow up, live, work, and age that shape their everyday lives.

  • Affordability of Healthcare: The countries with the best maternal health outcomes offer universal health coverage, while prohibitive healthcare costs often lead people to go without the care they need.
  • Accessibility of Education: Education—including about one’s own body and care options—is key to equipping people with the information they need to exercise their rights and play an active role in their maternity care.
  • Distance to Care: Shortages of healthcare providers and facilities mean that some communities, especially those in rural areas, must travel an hour or more to access even basic maternity care.
  • Gender Inequities: Practices that restrict autonomy, decision-making, mobility, and access to resources because of gender contribute to inequities in maternal health.
  • Racial and Ethnic Disparities: Systemic and interpersonal discrimination—and the chronic stress this leads to—contribute to profound inequities in maternal health experiences and outcomes.

Health System Factors

The elements and conditions within a healthcare system that influence how care is delivered and how effective it is.

  • Supplies and Supply Chain: To provide quality care, healthcare systems require timely and reliable access to supplies—a term that encompasses everything from electricity, to water, to stethoscopes, to ultrasound machines.
  • Provider Training: Accessible, comprehensive, and ongoing provider training is necessary to ensure the healthcare workforce is equipped with the necessary skills to provide quality, respectful care.
  • Referral Networks and Coordinated Care: A fragmented, overly complex health system can cause important information to fall through the cracks, prohibit people from forming trusting relationships with their providers, limit access to follow-up or specialized care, and contribute to poor maternal health outcomes.
  • Discrimination and Lack of Accountability: Too often women report being ignored, discriminated against, or pressured by their care providers without meaningful mechanisms for accountability. Systemic discrimination is a primary driver of maternal health inequities.

These clinical and systems factors drive poor maternal health outcomes.

This can include negative experiences of care—such as feeling disrespected or not listened to by care providers throughout the pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum periods—which may lead to pregnant people not getting the care they need.  This can also lead to complications and, in the most extreme situations, maternal deaths.

These problems persist across the globe.

Where women live and give birth influences their lifetime risk of maternal death, underscoring the profound inequities between low- and high-resource countries.

Maternal deaths remain overwhelmingly concentrated in the poorest regions of the world and in areas affected by conflict.

United States
The U.S. has the highest maternal mortality rate of any high-income country, despite spending the most per capita on healthcare in the world. Racial and ethnic inequities remain rampant, disproportionately affecting Black and Indigenous women in the U.S.
Sub-Saharan Africa & South Asia
In 2023, sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia together accounted for around 87% of global maternal deaths, reflecting persistent geographic disparities.

But the news isn’t all dire.

In fact, almost all maternal deaths can be prevented with timely access to quality, respectful, and equitable maternity care.

There have been improvements in the maternal mortality rate over time. Between 2000 and 2023, global efforts have reduced the maternal mortality ratio by about 40%.

But progress has stalled, and preventable deaths remain unacceptably high. 

Solutions exist.

Maternal health is a human right.

Our Approach