Washington, D.C., 6 March 2026 (PAHO) – On International Women’s Day, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) calls for accelerating efforts to reduce maternal mortality and ensure that all women in the Americas have access to essential health services, medicines, and technologies for safe motherhood.
Despite progress in recent decades, thousands of women continue to lose their lives each year from pregnancy and childbirth-related causes that can be prevented. In 2023, nearly 8,000 maternal deaths were recorded in the Americas, with a maternal mortality ratio of 59 deaths per 100,000 live births, still above the regional target of 30 per 100,000 established under PAHO’s Sustainable Health Agenda for the Americas 2030.
The COVID-19 pandemic deepened existing inequalities and caused a temporary increase in maternal deaths. In the following years, the countries of the Americas offered an organized and determined response, succeeding to reducing maternal deaths by 17%, which is equivalent to saving the lives of five pregnant women every day.
“Despite this recovery, gaps in access to maternal and neonatal health services continue to disproportionately affect populations in situations of greater vulnerability,” said James Fitzgerald, Director of PAHO’s Department of Health Systems and Services.
In some countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, Indigenous women face up to three times the risk of dying during pregnancy or childbirth.
The main causes of maternal death in the Region include postpartum hemorrhage, hypertensive disorders of pregnancy such as preeclampsia and eclampsia, and severe infections related to pregnancy. Nearly all of these deaths can be prevented when women have timely access to quality, respectful, and evidence-based care, as well as appropriate medicines and technologies.
“Strengthening access to essential medicines, maternal and neonatal health technologies, and comprehensive health services is necessary to reduce mortality among women and newborns,” Fitzgerald said.
In 2024, the Organization issued a call to action and launched the Zero Preventable Maternal Deaths initiative in order to accelerate action so that no woman dies from preventable causes related to pregnancy or childbirth. Under the proposed efforts, countries were urged to make commitments to adequate financing that prioritizes women’s health; promote intersectoral collaboration to eliminate barriers that limit access to care; and deploy effective social mobilization strategies to increase the visibility of maternal health issues.
This call to action promotes stronger governance and stewardship of health systems to improve the management of maternal health. It calls for expanding and strengthening primary health care and consolidating integrated health service networks based on the Primary Health Care approach, with a focus on quality maternal, sexual, and reproductive health services. It also emphasizes the need to ensure sufficient, well-distributed, well-trained, and motivated health workers, while empowering women, families, and communities to access health services and exercise their sexual and reproductive rights.
Recently, PAHO has strengthened its technical cooperation through the launch of essential maternal and neonatal health supply packages, which contain a catalogue of priority medicines, medical devices, and equipment, facilitating their joint, safe, and affordable procurement through the Organization’s Regional Revolving Funds.
On International Women’s Day, observed each 8 March, PAHO underscores the urgency of ensuring equity in access to health services, medicines, and health technologies, strengthening health systems, and prioritizing the most vulnerable populations so that all women can exercise their right to safe motherhood.
