“Half. This is the proportion of all pregnancies that are unintended. That is 121 million pregnancies every year,” said Sarah Craven, Director of the Washington D.C. Office at UNFPA during a recent U.S. launch event for the 2022 UNFPA State of World Population (SWOP) report. “For these women, the most life altering reproductive choice, whether to become pregnant or not, is no choice at all. This is an unseen crisis unfolding right before our eyes.”

More than 60 percent of preventable maternal deaths and 45 percent of newborn deaths take place in countries affected by recent conflict, natural disaster, or both. Yet as Sarah B. Barnes, Project Director of the Maternal Health Initiative, observed at a recent event hosted by the Wilson Center and UNFPA, in collaboration with the Inter-agency Working Group on Reproductive Health in Crisis (IAWG) and White Ribbon Alliance, “the leading causes of both maternal and newborn death occurring in humanitarian settings are considered to be preventable if managed by skilled providers and adequate resources.”

“Building strong and inclusive partnerships for maternal, newborn, child health, and family planning programs is not future work,” said Dr. Koki Agarwal, Director of USAID’s MOMENTUM Country and Global Leadership at a recent Wilson Center event. “It’s urgent and it’s ‘right now’ work.”

This exploration of country perspectives and expertise on improving maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health and family planning programs was the third event in a series that placed regional experiences and voices in the foreground.

The infant formula shortage and the COVID-19 pandemic have added fuel to an already existing fire in maternal mental health in the United States.

As Adrienne Griffen, Executive Director of Maternal Mental Health Leadership Alliance pointed out at a recent event on the COVID-19 pandemic, maternal mental health, and policy solutions, “maternal mental health conditions, including anxiety, depression, and other issues, affect 1 in 5 pregnant or postpartum people [in the U.S.].”

Reducing maternal mortality is key to promoting population health. It is also a main priority of the UN General Assembly’s Sustainable Development Goals. And the reasons for concern are clear. Globally, 800 women and 6,500 infants die during pregnancy and birth every day. More than 94 percent of these deaths occur in low-and-middle-income countries (LMICs).