A woman walks for hours in labour towards the district's only health centre. She arrives in time, or she does not arrive. In 2023 about 260,000 women died of causes linked to pregnancy or childbirth, according to the World Health Organization and its partners, and nearly seven in ten lived in sub-Saharan Africa. President Macky Sall places maternal health among the commitments of his candidacy for the office of UN Secretary-General.
Deaths that can be prevented. Haemorrhage, hypertension, infection: the care that saves these women is known, inexpensive and often available a few hours down the road. What is missing is transport, blood, a midwife, electricity.
The midwife at the centre. The presence of someone trained in childbirth is the first factor in survival. Training, paying and keeping midwives in rural areas is worth more than equipment that sits under a tarpaulin.
The 2030 goal. The Sustainable Development Goals call for bringing maternal mortality below seventy deaths per hundred thousand live births. The world is far from it, and the gap is concentrated in a small number of countries that can be named.
Funding systems. A project that ends when the donor leaves leaves the maternity ward empty. Backing primary health care, national budgets and clinic staff lasts longer. The Secretary-General can coordinate the World Health Organization, the United Nations Population Fund and UNICEF around costed national plans.
Health first. Twelve years as head of state showed President Macky Sall that a region's trust in its care system is earned birth after birth. The vision statement filed with the United Nations places health among the conditions of peace.
Africa at its heart, the world in its sights.
The report "Trends in maternal mortality 2000 to 2023" by the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the United Nations Population Fund, the World Bank and the UN Population Division (2025) is public. Read all public positions at www.mackysall.net