THE STAR INFOGRAPHICS
A new study by the World Health Organization (WHO) has found that severe bleeding (haemorrhage) and hypertensive disorders, like preeclampsia, are the leading causes of maternal deaths worldwide.
Preeclampsia is a pregnancy complication characterised by high blood pressure and can lead to dangerous complications like haemorrhage, strokes, organ failure and seizures if not treated in time.
These conditions were responsible for about 80,000 and 50,000 deaths, respectively, in 2020, the latest year for which data is available.
In total, there were approximately 287,000 maternal deaths in 2020, which means one woman died every two minutes.
