A series of cheap and simple innovations could save the lives of two million mothers and babies in low and middle-income countries by 2030 and help get the world back on track to achieve some of the sustainable development goals (SDGs), according to a new report from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
The World Health Organisation warned in June that global progress in reducing deaths during pregnancy and childbirth and among newborn babies had stalled since 2015, and that over 60 countries were not on course to meet the 2030 SDG targets agreed to by UN member countries. SA is among the countries lagging behind and saw its institutional maternal mortality rate increase during the coronavirus pandemic, from 93 per 100,000 live births in 2019/2020 to 119 per 100,000 live births in 2021/2022.
The global target is to reduce the global maternal mortality ratio to less than 70 per 100,000 live births, but current projections estimate the figure will be almost double that, at 138 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births. For newborns, the aim is for all countries to reduce their neonatal mortality rate to 12 per 1,000 live births, or less. While there has been some progress, the pace of improvement is too slow and the projected neonatal mortality rate will be 14.3 deaths per 1,000, according to the report.
Ground-breaking new insights into maternal and child health in the past decade have led to the development of low-cost, easy-to-use innovations that can prevent deadly complications such as post-partum haemorrhaging and sepsis, but more work needs to be done to ensure these tools reach their target, said Melinda French Gates and Bill Gates in the 2023 Goalkeepers Report, released on Tuesday.
“As is so often the case in global health, innovations aren’t making their way to the people who need them most — women in low-income countries, as well as black and indigenous women in high-income countries like the United States, who are dying at three times the rate of white women. That needs to change,” French Gates wrote.
Among the innovations that could protect women during pregnancy and childbirth are the provision of antibiotics during labour to prevent post-partum infection; using a specially designed drape to measure blood loss during and after labour; and preventing anaemia with a once-off infusion instead of a six-month course of iron pills.
For babies, the recommended interventions include providing pregnant women at high risk of pre-term delivery with corticosteroids to accelerate the baby’s lung growth, and giving newborn babies a probiotic supplement called B. infantis to boost gut health.
“Over the past decade, the field of child health has advanced faster and farther than I thought I’d see in my lifetime,” said Bill Gates. “If our delivery can keep pace with our learning — if researchers can continue developing new innovations and skilled health workers can get them to every mother and child who needs them — then more babies will survive those crucial first days,” he said.
The report has been released ahead of a high-level meeting next week at the UN General assembly in New York when global leaders will take stock of the world’s progress towards the 17 sustainable development goals.
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