The Most Dangerous Places on Earth to Have a Baby
Aid cuts and conflict are reversing decades of progress in keeping mothers and newborns alive around the world.
In the Central African Republic, a newborn baby girl was rushed to a hospital on the back of a motorbike. She had been born in a village about 10 kilometers away and was struggling to breathe. Doctors worked as fast as they could, but the baby did not survive. This hospital is the only children's hospital in the entire country.
Doctors say there are not enough ambulances, equipment, or trained staff. Dr. Emmaus Johann treated the baby and said that by the time many families arrive, it is already too late. He said that babies arriving without oxygen cannot be saved, and that this happens every single day. For him and his team, it has become a painful routine.
For hundreds of years, giving birth was one of the most dangerous things a woman could do. But over the last 25 years, the world made real progress — cutting the number of mothers dying during childbirth by 40 percent. Now, experts are warning that this progress is being reversed. Aid cuts and war are pushing death rates back up.
Women in the CAR are 60 times more likely to die during pregnancy or childbirth than women in the United Kingdom. The United Nations Population Fund, known as UNFPA, lost $3 million in funding. More than 1,100 health clinics were forced to close, and 6,000 healthcare workers lost their jobs. Millions of people have lost access to basic pregnancy care.
In the town of Birao, near the border with Sudan, one hospital has only 60 beds but must serve more than 40,000 people. Eight out of 12 medical workers at the maternity ward lost their jobs after aid was cut. All four midwives are gone. One nurse, Delphine Zanaba, is now handling hundreds of patients entirely on her own.
Nigeria is considered one of the most dangerous places in the world to give birth. It accounts for 29 percent of all estimated maternal deaths worldwide. In 2023, about 75,000 mothers died — roughly one every seven minutes. There is only one doctor for every 9,000 patients in the country.
Health officials in both countries warn that things will get worse if cuts continue. A Nigerian health official said the end of US funding happened so suddenly that hospitals had no time to prepare. Organizations around the world are calling on governments to restore aid before more lives are lost. As nurse Zanaba said: 'No more maternal deaths. It must stop now.'
"When services get shut down, when maternity wards close, the mortality rate rises. It's as simple as that."
Comprehension quiz preview
1. What is the only type of hospital described as existing in the entire Central African Republic?
2. What does the word 'mortality' mean as used in this article?
3. Why did nurse Delphine Zanaba end up handling hundreds of patients by herself?