FORBES | This past year, the United States received the dubious distinction of being one of only 7 countries in the world, including Somalia and Afghanistan, which have seen an increase in maternal mortality.
While countries with far fewer resources such as India and Brazil have made great strides to decrease the number of women who die each year as a result of pregnancy, our nation has more than doubled its rate of maternal mortality in the last twenty-five years (28 maternal deaths per 100,000 births in 2013, up from 12 in 1990). Since 2005, it has increased more than 20%. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), as many as half of these maternal deaths are preventable. This begs the question: How can we lead the world in cutting-edge health innovation and medical discoveries, yet fall behind in this telling public health metric?
The reasons for the increase are complex.
Read more at Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/billfrist/2016/10/12/our-abysmal-maternal-health-statistics-and-how-to-improve-them/#7b12711033b5