Maternal mortality is defined by the World Health Organization as death occurring during pregnancy or in the following 42 days, from a cause related to or aggravated by this pregnancy or its care.
A total of 861 women died in the United States in 2020.
The maternal mortality rate therefore rose to 23.8 deaths per 100,000 births, according to a report by the National Center for Health Statistics published on Wednesday.
This is the worst rate among industrialized countries.
Canada, for example, has a maternal mortality rate of 7.5 deaths per 100,000 births, according to OECD statistics for the same year.
And the American situation has continued to worsen in recent years: the rate was 20.1 deaths per 100,000 births in 2019, and 17.4 in 2018.
As for 2020, "Covid-19 probably contributed," Donna Hoyert, who participated in the report, told AFP.
But this disease was not mentioned in 88% of cases, and is therefore only responsible for part of the general picture, she stressed.
Maternal mortality declined worldwide in the 20th century thanks to medical advances.
But since the 2000s, the United States has once again been on the wrong track, unlike most other comparable countries.
The last time the U.S. maternal mortality rate was this high was officially in 1968 -- although a new methodology has been in use since 2018.
And the data shows strong inequalities.
In 2020, the maternal mortality rate was 55.3 per 100,000 births among black women, compared to 19.1 among white women.
“It has been repeatedly demonstrated that black women do not receive the same level of care” in the United States, explained to AFP Ebony Hilton, anesthesiologist at the University of Virginia, and expert on disparities in access. to health care.
© 2022 AFP