Sierra Leone ranks 3rd among countries with highest maternal deaths

The proportion of maternal deaths is decreasing, says a new report by the World Health Organization, UNICEF, UNFPA, World Bank, and the United Nations Population Division. But the lifetime risk of maternal mortality for a 15-year-old girl in Sierra Leone is 1 in 20. 

 The West African nation is one of three countries estimated to have had an extremely high maternal mortality ratio in 2017 (defined as over 1000 maternal deaths per 100 000 live births), with the highest maternal mortality ratio being in South Sudan.

Sixteen other countries, all also in  Africa except for one, are estimated to have very high maternal mortality ratio in 2017, ranging between 500 and 999. 

 The 10 countries with the highest maternal mortality ratios in order from highest to lowest are:

South Sudan
Chad
Sierra Leone
Nigeria
The Central African Republic
Somalia
Mauritania
Guinea-Bissau
Liberia
Afghanistan

 Nigeria and India had the highest numbers of maternal deaths, and accounted for approximately one third (35%) of all estimated global maternal deaths in 2017, with approximately 67, 000 and 35, 000 maternal deaths (23% and 12% of global maternal deaths), respectively. Click here to read the full report
(Mother Carrying Baby on Back in Sierra Leone. Photo by Annie Spratt via Good Free Photos)


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