WHO Reveals Family Planning And COPy Treatment Help Reduce Mother's Death Globally

Illustration of pregnant women (Pexels/cottonbro studio)

JAKARTA - The World Health Organization (WHO) revealed that increased in family planning and maternity care have driven a global reduction in maternal mortality in the last two decades.

This was revealed through a recent academic paper, published in The Lancet Global Health. For the results of the paper, WHO together with the Human Reproduction Program (HRP) reanalyzed data from 195 countries and regions.

The analysis is to examine the contribution of maternity care and family planning for the death of a global mother. Overall global maternity deaths decreased by 41 percent between 2000 and 2023.

It was found that 61.2 percent of the decrease in maternal mortality was caused by an increase in maternity care. Meanwhile, 38.8 percent came from a decrease in fertility, which is in the family planning program.

The increase in contraceptive use alone has also prevented around 77,400 maternal deaths by 2023. This underscores the important role of family planning in addition to quality clinical treatment.

By allowing women to plan and regulate their pregnancy, contraception helps prevent complications that arise from pregnancy too early, too late, or too close.

It also reduces the need for unsafe abortion, which is also one of the main causes of maternal mortality around the world.

This shows that access to quality maternity contraception is not just a health intervention. They are very important to save lives and advance gender equality," said WHO Director, HRP and Department of Sexual Reproduction, Mother, Child, Health Remaya and Aging (LHR), Pascale Allotey.

Therefore, WHO emphasizes that family planning services and maternity treatments in each country are increasing. This is very important for a more significant reduction in maternal mortality in the future.

"We have to make sure that every woman, everywhere, has the means to plan her family and access the care she needs, to prevent unwanted pregnancies and for safe pregnancy and childbirth," she concluded.