A US study shows that 861 women died in 2020 during their pregnancy or in the next forty-two days, and that the rate is almost three times higher for black women than for white women.
Le Monde with AFP
It’s a disturbing number and increase. According to A report from the National Center for Health Statistics published Wednesday, February 23, the maternal mortality rate in the United States has further increased to a peak for half a century.
In total, 861 women died in the country in 2020, according to the criteria defined by the World Health Organization which takes into account a death occurred during pregnancy or in the next forty-two days. , for a cause related or aggravated by this pregnancy or support.
The maternal mortality rate has therefore been high at 23.8 deaths per 100,000 births. This is the worst rate among the industrialized countries. CANADA registers a maternal mortality rate of 7.5 deaths per 100,000 births, according to OECD statistics for the same year.
And the American situation has continued to worsen in recent years: the rate was 20.1 per 100,000 births in 2019, and 17.4 in 2018.
strong Inequalities
As for 2020, “COVID-19 has probably contributed,” said France-Presse Agency (AFP) Donna Hoyoyt, who participated in the report. But this disease was not mentioned in 88% of cases, and is therefore only responsible for part of the general picture, she emphasized.
Maternal mortality has declined in the world in the XX e century thanks to medical advances. But since the 2000s, the United States is again on the bad slope, unlike most other comparable countries. The last time the American maternal mortality rate was also officially rising to 1968 – even if a new methodology has been used since 2018.