Each year hundreds of thousands of women die for reasons related to pregnancy and child birth. Given that the risk of maternal death is highest immediately during postpartum and in the following 24-48 hours, the presence of skilled health personnel during childbirth is a key intervention for preventing maternal and newborn deaths. In 2012. about 40 million births in developing regions were not attended by skilled health personnel.
Inequalities in maternal health have been widely acknowledged, both across countries and within countries. The proportion of births attended by skilled health personnel has been identified as the maternal health intervention indicator with the most pronounced economic related inequality. Thus, improving on the coverage of this health intervention is a priority for initiatives that aim to promote maternal health.
Almost half of low-and middle-income study countries reported that at least 80% of live births were attended by skilled health personnel: however, there was wide variation in the proportion of attended births across countries. Generally, the proportion of births attended by skilled health personnel was much lower across low-income countries than in middle-income countries.
Countries in the WHO European Region demonstrated little cross-country inequality in the proportion of births attended by skilled health personnel, with complete-or very high-levels of coverage for this intervention. The proportion of births attended by skilled health personnel in study countries of other regions, however, ranged from less than 12% to nearly 100%.
Overall, the proportion of births attended by skilled health personnel increased with rising economic status; poorer subgroups typically experienced lower levels of skilled birth attendance than richer subgroups.
What was the percentage of Live Births NOT attended by skilled health personnel in half of low and middle income countries?
