Increasing Access to Reproductive Health Care

Almost 300,000 women die from complications of pregnancy and childbirth every year — for every maternal death at least another 20 women suffer injury or illness. Ninety-nine percent of maternal deaths occur in developing countries, with more than half in sub-Saharan Africa. Women and girls who want to delay or avoid pregnancy are often prevented from using modern contraception by lack of information, supplies and services, or by opposition from partners and others. Between 2015 and 2019, 48% of global pregnancies were unintended, and 43.8 million abortions occur each year — nearly half of them unsafe. Bloomberg Philanthropies works to address these problems by providing and advocating for access to quality reproductive health services.