However, for hundreds of thousands of women across the globe, this gratitude has only been valid so far, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) indicates the occasion of Mother’s Day, which is celebrated on Sundays throughout May.
According to recently published data, one woman dies every two minutes from pregnancy or childbirth, with the majority of these deaths due to preventable causes such as bleeding and infectionThe United Nations reproductive health agency said.
Worse still, solutions to these problems have existed for decades; but they ask invest now in family planning and let the world solve the big problem midwifewho UNFPA reports could avert an estimated two-thirds of all maternal and neonatal deaths.
“We have the tools, knowledge and resources to end preventable maternal deaths; what we need now is political will,” said UNFPA Executive Director Natalia Kanem.
This is why moms need support more than ever.
Maternal mortality at crisis level
According to the UNFPA report, between 2000 and 2015, the global maternal mortality rate fell by more than a third, but since then the rate of decline has stalled in some regions and even reversed. progress in other regions.
This has resulted in a A staggering 287,000 maternal deaths in 2020 — a number of deaths would dominate the headlines if it were related to a natural disaster or other crisis, the agency found.
“It is unacceptable that so many women continue to die needlessly during pregnancy and childbirth. More than 280,000 deaths in a year is unconscionable,” said the head of UNFPA. can and must do better.”
UNFPA State of World Population Report.
Rare choice
The UNFPA said that often women and girls are not allowed to make the decision to become pregnant.
Four out of ten women with a partner in 68 countries are alarming. cannot to promote agency when it comes to health care, sex or contraception. Meanwhile, some data suggest that rape-related pregnancies occur at least as often as pregnancies resulting from consensual sex.
These and other factors promote a global crisis is forgottenNearly half of all pregnancies worldwide are unintended, the agency said, with serious negative consequences for many affected.
The UNFPA says pregnancy and delivery complications can be fatal, especially for adolescents and girls. an estimated half a million births are girls between the ages of 10-14 in 2021, making hundreds of thousands of mothers during childhood.
Ms Kanem said: “The staggering number of unintended pregnancies shows a global failure to protect the basic human rights of women and girls.
Give hope to the mother in need this Mother’s Day
Option ignored
In November 2022, the global population reached eight billion. While some received this news with admiration for the advances in health care and poverty alleviation that have led to this landmark moment, others are worried about having “too many” or “too few” people on earth, according to UNFPA.
This line of thinking implicitly puts the female body in a position to be the solution to hypothetical problem of population expansion – a dangerous idea. This reason has historically led to coercive policies designed to impact the fertility of women, who risk their rights while dismissing their wishes, the agency says. .
According to UNFPA Report on the state of world population in 2023, Strong 8 billion, Many women want their families to be bigger or smaller than they are.
For example, in most sub-Saharan African countries, women reported on average two or more births than they wanted, while the majority of childless women in Japan said they wanted to have children. .
Furthermore, in low- and middle-income countries, only a quarter of women realize their desired fertility, the report found.
“What women and mothers want when it comes to their fertility issues,” the agency said. “Unfortunately, too often, no one asks.”
A procession of mothers carrying their newborn daughters to plant a tree commemorating their birth.
Start with gender equality
Preventable maternal mortality, denial of rights, or demographic change can all be addressed by making the world a more gender-equal place.
Of course, this is easier said than done, but the role of gender inequality at the root of many other problems, including those mentioned above, must be recognised, the agency said.
What is gender inequality? keep women out of the workforce and schoolsvulnerable to conflict and violence, and denying them the right to make decisions about their own bodies and health, the agency said, adding that it is also make pregnancy a dangerous endeavorsomething that hundreds of thousands of women did not survive.
“This year’s Mother’s Day, be meaningful when you say thank you to the mothers in your life by saving their lives. They will in turn thank you by thriving,” said UNFPA.
