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April 7, 2005
Latina mother and children
Every year, an estimated one million young children die as a result of the death of their mother.
Photo courtesy of the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.

On World Health Day, Ipas joins the World Health Organization (WHO) and the international community in focusing on the critical health needs of the world’s women and children.

“The well-being of society is directly linked to the health and survival of women and children,” said Elizabeth Maguire, Ipas President and CEO. “When mothers survive and thrive, their children survive and thrive. When mothers suffer, so do their children.”    

Every minute, a woman dies from complications related to pregnancy or childbirth. That adds up to more than half a million deaths every year, primarily in developing countries. And every year, an estimated one million young children die as a result of the death of their mother.

One of the most critical messages of World Health Day 2005 is that many of these lives can and should be saved using existing knowledge and affordable tools and technology.

For example, 13 percent of all pregnancy-related deaths are due to complications from unsafe abortion. Almost 70,000 women’s lives could be saved every year by increasing access to safe, legal abortion services.

This is echoed by two major international reports released recently. WHO’s World Health Report 2005, launched on World Health Day, points to the need for health systems to address the problem of unsafe abortion. It includes manual vacuum aspiration (MVA) as a proven and effective intervention for management of incomplete abortion and induced abortion, thereby reducing maternal disability and death.

Additionally, the report of the United Kingdom Commission for Africa states in a section on sexual and reproductive rights that “without greater access to contraception, antenatal care and skilled attendance at delivery, safe abortion and postabortion care, the numbers of deaths will accelerate.” The report recognizes that rates of pregnancy-related deaths in Africa are the highest in the world.

The report also calls for “increasing the availability of condoms, attended births, emergency obstetric care and referral systems, and improving safe abortion services” as key ways to prevent unwanted pregnancies and reduce maternal mortality.

In establishing the Millennium Development Goals in 2000, the international community made a commitment to reducing maternal deaths by three-quarters and reducing child mortality by two-thirds by the year 2015. Efforts toward reaching these goals, even where the goals are not fully achieved, will have the potential to transform the lives of millions of mothers, children and families.

World Health Day has been celebrated on the seventh of April each year since 1950. However, activities and programs launched on this day will have an impact on women’s lives well into the future.

For more information, contact:
Kirsten Sherk
Senior Associate, Media Relations
e-mail: sherkk@ipas.org
phone: 919.960.5612
fax: 919.929.0258