In 2020, an estimated 287,000 women died in pregnancy, childbirth, or soon after delivering, according to the latest data from the United Nations Maternal Mortality Estimation Inter-Agency Group, which includes the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). This figure is roughly equivalent to the death toll of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami or the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, two of the deadliest natural disasters in modern history.
Human devastation on this scale is usually met with weeks of news coverage, an outpouring of public support, and calls for urgent action. Yet the staggering number of women dying every year in the act of giving life remains largely a silent crisis. Even worse, the group found that progress in reducing maternal deaths has ground to a halt.
