Maternal and newborn health: Saving and improving the lives of new moms and babies

Millions of mothers and newborns are dying from preventable causes.

Infectious diseases and complications during pregnancy or childbirth still cause high rates of maternal and newborn mortality around the world. We’re not on track to reach Sustainable Development Goal 3.1: reducing maternal mortality to less than 70 deaths per 100,000 live births by 2030 — in fact, progress toward this goal has stalled in recent years.

4.5M: women and newborns die every year during pregnancy, childbirth or shortly after birth (that’s 1 death every 7 seconds)
800: women died from a maternal cause every day — that’s one every two minutes — in 2020
70%: Sub-Saharan Africa accounted for about 70% of global maternal deaths in 2020
2.4M: children died in their first month of life in 2020
1M: pregnant women have active syphilis, the second most common infectious cause of stillbirth worldwide
200K: stillbirths and neonatal deaths are caused by mother-to-child transmission of syphilis, in addition to 100,000 cases of disability

Globally, one million pregnant women are infected with syphilis.

Mother-to-child transmission of syphilis, called congenital syphilis, causes severe disabilities and more child deaths than HIV. With the right screening and treatment tools, it’s preventable and treatable.

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Scaling health interventions focused on maternal and newborn health

We bring effective, low-cost, and lifesaving solutions to mothers and their newborns. Every child should get the best shot at a healthy start to life.