Risks during delivery: maternal deaths
The worldwide average for maternal death is 216 women per every 100,000 deliveries, the highest figures being in West and Central Africa, where 679 women die per every 100,000 deliveries, and the lowest in Europe, where lees than 14 per every 100,000 die. In Spain, the rate is only 5 per every 100,000.
70% of the causes of maternal death are directly linked to haemorrhages, infections, dangerous abortions, eclampsia and obstructed delivery. But many deaths could be prevented by modifying discriminatory situations of gender and poverty, such as those which impose sexual relations without protection, which increases the risk of AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. Adolescent marriages and motherhood increases maternal morbidity and mortality, and different nutritional limitations can, for example, determine retarded growth and small adult stature, or increase the risk of anaemia.
M. Photo, Clara Sánchez