Does women’s education reduce rates of death in childbirth?
Maternal mortality rates need to be reduced by two-thirds over the next 15 years to meet the Sustainable Development Goals. New research by Professor Sonia Bhalotra (University of Essex) and Professor Damian Clarke (University of Santiago de Chile) shows that a focus on girls' education may be one means of meeting this objective.
Every single day, approximately 830 women die from causes related to childbirth. Despite considerable advances in maternal health over the last three decades (Hogan et al. 2010) as well as worldwide commitment to reducing maternal deaths, sufficient reductions have not been achieved. These deaths are overwhelmingly preventable provided that timely access to appropriate obstetric care and contraceptives are available (Ronsmans and Graham 2006; Ahmed et al. 2012)…
