The number of mothers who die after a caesarean in Africa is as much as 50 times higher than in developed countries, experts have warned.

Across 22 African countries studied, 5.43 women in every 1,000 died following C-section operations, compared to just 0.1 deaths in the UK, according to an observational study published in the Lancet Global Health journal on Thursday.

And almost 20 per cent of the women experienced complications during surgery, a figure nearly three times higher than for mothers in the United States.

The findings highlight an urgent need to improve the safety of cesarean operations, say the report authors.

"Improvement of C-section surgical outcomes could substantially improve both maternal and neonatal mortality, which would lead to key global health gains,” said Bruce Biccard, professor at the University of Cape Town and lead author of the study.

“Our findings could potentially inform interventions to improve the safety of C-sections for both mother and baby.”