This article originally appeared in The Guardian.

The number of women dying from causes related to pregnancy and childbirth has almost halved since 1990, a global report has revealed.

Worldwide the annual number of maternal deaths per 100,000 live births fell by 44% between 1990 and 2015, from approximately 385 to 216.

But the figure came far below the target set by the United Nations as part of its millennium development goals in 2000, which aimed to see a drop of 75% by 2015.

The report also highlights that global inequalities in maternal healthcare are increasing, with the gap between countries with the lowest level of maternal deaths and the highest doubling between 1990 and 2013, reaching a 200-fold difference.

“Lots of people worked very hard and progress was achieved, but it was patchy,” said Wendy Graham from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, who was a co-coordinator of the report. “Like many things in health, in the progress that the average receives invariably there are some left behind.”

Read the full post >>