Berliner Tageblatt - UN sounds alarm over Ukraine war's impact on pregnant women

The maternal mortality rate among pregnant women jumped by approximately 37 percent from 2023 to 2024, according to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), citing the most recent full year of available data.

"Our latest analysis shows a sharp deterioration in maternal health across Ukraine, with more women at risk of dying and more pregnancies ending in life-threatening complications," Florence Bauer, the agency's director for Eastern Europe, said in a statement.

"These are not abstract statistics – they are people and families living under unbearable stress and reflect a health system under attack," she added.

UNFPA sounded the alarm six days after a strike damaged a maternity hospital run by the agency in Kherson. No injuries were reported.

Since Russia's full-scale invasion of its neighbor in 2022, more than 80 maternity and neonatal facilities have been damaged or destroyed, among the over 2,760 healthcare sites hit nationwide, UNFPA said.

Such strikes on hospitals and the breakdown of essential services "force women to give birth in increasingly dangerous conditions," the agency said.

"Safe childbirth must be protected even in war, and international humanitarian law is clear: health facilities, health workers and humanitarian access must never be targeted," Bauer said.

Between 2023 and 2024, despite a decline in the number of births, maternal mortality rose from 18.9 to 25.9 deaths per 100,000 live births -- a 37 percent increase -- according to UNFPA data.

During that period, there was a higher proportion of pregnant women affected by severe complications. That included a 44 percent increase in uterine ruptures and a 12 percent rise in hypertension during pregnancy.

The cesarean section rate, a marker of strained maternity care in humanitarian crises, was also high, with some frontline regions of Ukraine having "among the highest rates in Europe," UNFPA said.

K.Thomson--BTB