Following the release of new maternal and neonatal mortality estimates earlier this year, the Guttmacher Institute today released a fact sheet updating several key findings from the 2009 report Adding It Up: The Costs and Benefits of Investing in Family Planning and Maternal and Newborn Health. Guttmacher also released updated regional Adding It Up fact sheets with new estimates for Latin America and the Caribbean South Central and Southeast Asia Sub-Saharan Africa and Arab Countries. Estimates in another related fact sheet, Facts on Satisfying the Need for Contraception in Developing Countries, were also updated to reflect the new mortality figures. Some of these fact sheets are also available in Spanish and French.
The revised estimates reduce the number of maternal and neonatal deaths in developing countries that could be expected to be averted annually if the need for family planning and maternal and newborn care in developing countries were fully met.
However, Adding It Up findings that do not pertain to mortality levels remain unchanged, and the basic conclusions of the report hold true: Maternal and newborn deaths remain unacceptably high; further steep declines in such deaths are well within reach; and these declines can be achieved most effectively and economically by simultaneously investing in family planning and maternal and newborn care.
Roughly doubling the current global investments in family planning and pregnancy-related care—from $11.8 billion to $24.6 billion annually—would reduce
- maternal deaths by more than two-thirds, from 356,000 to 105,000;
- newborn deaths by more than half, from 3.2 million to 1.5 million;
- unsafe abortions by almost three-quarters, from 20 million to 5.5 million; and
- deaths from unsafe abortion by more than four-fifths, from 46,000 to 8,000.
Key regional findings
Regionally, the impact of fully meeting the need for both family planning and maternal and newborn health services would be equally significant:
- In Sub-Saharan Africa, maternal deaths would drop by 69%, from 204,000 to 63,000; newborn deaths by 57%, from 1.08 million to 460,000; and unintended pregnancies by 77%, from 17 million to four million.
- In South Central and Southeast Asia, maternal deaths would drop by 75%, from 128,000 to 31,000; newborn deaths by 52%, from 1,630,000 to 780,000; and unintended pregnancies by 74%, from 32.2 million to 8.5 million.
- In Latin America and the Caribbean, maternal deaths would drop by 62%, from 9,000 to 4,000; newborn deaths by 55%, from 110,000 to 50,000; and unintended pregnancies by 67%, from 10 million to 3.3 million.
- In Arab countries, maternal deaths would drop by 66%, from 21,000 to 7,000; newborn deaths by 51%, from 169,000 to 82,000; and unintended pregnancies by 67%, from 5.4 million to 1.57 million.
Ultimately, the scientific evidence detailed in Adding It Up and updated in the new fact sheets strongly makes the case for providing the world’s women with the contraceptive care and pregnancy-related services they need to achieve their childbearing goals in good health. Investing in women’s reproductive health and autonomy yields dividends that accrue for individuals, families and society as a whole—and the investment is modest in relation to the dramatic returns it yields.
Updated global fact sheet:
Facts on Investing in Family Planning and Maternal and Newborn Health (November 2010)
Updated regional fact sheets:
Facts on Investing in Family Planning and Maternal and Newborn Health in Latin America and the Caribbean, November 2010
In Spanish: Datos sobre la inversión en planificación familiar y en salud materna y neonatal en Latinoamérica y el Caribe
Facts on Investing in Family Planning and Maternal and Newborn Health in South Central and Southeast Asia, November 2010
Facts on Investing in Family Planning and Maternal and Newborn Health in Sub-Saharan Africa, November 2010
In French: Les faits sur l’investissement dans la planification familiale et la santé maternelle et néonatale en Afrique subsaharienne
Facts on Investing in Family Planning and Maternal and Newborn Health in Arab Countries, November 2010
Updated fact sheets on impact of fully meeting the need for contraception:
Facts on Satisfying the Need for Contraception in Developing Countries, November 2010
In Spanish: Datos sobre la satisfacción de la necesidad anticonceptiva en los países en desarrollo
In French: Les faits sur la satisfaction du besoin de contraception dans les pays en développement