A global health research center at the University of Washington has found that while there's a global decrease in maternal mortality rates, the rate in the U.S. is rising (The Huffington Post).

We're ranked 60th in the world, below every other developed nation, according to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. The country's maternal mortality rate has gone up by 6.1 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births since 1990 — rising from 12.4 per 100,000 live births to 18.5. That's a 1.7 percent increase.

That's triple the rate of the U.K.'s maternal mortality rate, and eight times Iceland's. While deaths from hemorrhage, sepsis, and abortion are down, deaths from previous health complications exacerbated during pregnancy — congenital heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and kidney problems — are up.

This indicates that the rising rates have nothing to do with medical technology or advancements we haven't made, but instead they're due to simple oversight. "Many of these deaths can be prevented, and that's what makes it a human rights issue. We're not waiting for a medical breakthrough — what we're waiting for here is the political will to save these women's lives," says Rachel Ward, director of research for Amnesty International and author of 2011 report Deadly Delivery: The Maternal Health Care Crisis in the USA.

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