Citation, extracts and comment from me below.
CITATION: Mothers deserve better: evidence-based strategies to address maternal mortality
Etienne V Langlois langloise@who.int ∙ Amy Reid ∙ Rajat Khosla
The Lancet Global Health 2025
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(25)00149-4/fulltext?dgcid=raven_jbs_aip_email
In 2023, an estimated 712 women died each day due to complications during and after pregnancy and childbirth, totalling approximately 260 000 maternal deaths over the year. 70% of maternal mortality occurred in sub-Saharan Africa. These deaths were largely due to direct causes, including postpartum haemorrhage, hypertensive disorders, unsafe abortion, and sepsis, which can be prevented or treated...
Lifesaving interventions exist, but their impact depends on large-scale implementation to improve access, quality, and equity through evidence-based service delivery models...
Investments are needed to enhance the collection and use of reliable, real-time data on service readiness, provision, and quality of care. Digital tools, like electronic health records, mobile health platforms, and data analytics, can play a transformative role for timely decision making and resource allocation...
A global, evidence-based approach is essential to accelerate change and confront this ongoing crisis with the urgency it demands. Rhetoric alone will not save lives — only sound policies and sustained investments can do this. The choices made today will shape the survival, health, and future of millions of women and the communities that depend on them.
COMMENT (NPW): Arguably the most direct way to improve quality of care is to empower health workers by meeting their basic needs. HIFA has described these with the acronym SEISMIC [ https://www.hifa.org/about-hifa/hifa-universal-health-coverage-and-human... ]. The "I" stands for information - health workers need timely, reliable healthcare information to deliver the best possible care with available resources.
HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org