Many women across the world give birth without medical assistance, massively increasing the risk of complications or death. Ninety nine percent of these deaths are in developing countries. The majority are preventable with appropriate care.
We work with midwives and traditional birth attendants to establish programmes so complicated births can be identified quickly to help prevent maternal deaths.
The most common complications causing maternal death, accounting for nearly 75 percent of all maternal deaths, are:
- postpartum haemorrhage
- infection
- eclampsia
- complications from delivery
- unsafe abortion
Médecins Sans Frontières provides lifesaving medical care to people in over 70 countries. Help us go where others won't.
