New Report Says Dramatic Declines in Maternal and Newborn Deaths Are Within Reach

03.12.2009 LONDON - A doubled investment in family planning and pregnancy-related care could reduce maternal deaths by 70% and newborn deaths by 50% worldwide, according to a report released today by the Guttmacher Institute and UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund.

The report, Adding It Up: The Costs and Benefits of Investing in Family Planning and Maternal and Newborn Health, documents the benefits of meeting the need for both family planning and services for mothers and newborns.

Investments in family planning boost the overall effectiveness of every dollar spent on providing pregnancy-related and newborn health care, the study said. Investing in both family planning and maternal and newborn services, rather than just in services to mothers and newborns, could achieve the same dramatic outcomes for $1.5 billion less.

In addition, the deaths of nearly 400,000 women and 1.6 million infants would be prevented every year; unintended pregnancies would decline by more than two-thirds; and unsafe abortions and resulting complications would both drop by about 75%, the report said.

"Investing in a handful of basic health services, like family planning and routine delivery care, can save millions of women and babies," said Dr. Sharon Camp, president of the Guttmacher Institute. "It's not rocket science. These are mostly simple services that can be provided inexpensively at the local level, supplemented by provision of urgent care when needed."

Adding it Up shows that the total investment needed is $24.6 billion - a little more than double current spending on family planning and maternal health programs in developing nations.

"It is a win-win situation. We know what must be done, we know what it will cost, and we now know that the needed investment is modest in relation to the vast benefits that will follow," said Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, executive director of UNFPA.

The report notes additional benefits, including curbing transmission of HIV and other STIs; increasing women's educational and employment opportunities, as well as their social and economic status; spurring economic growth and reducing poverty.

Regional fact sheets accompany the report with information on benefits in Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, sub-Saharan Africa and the Arab countries.