Although we now have the technology to launch an electric car into space using reusable booster rockets, and, to give a more mundane example, can communicate via video conference with people all over the globe on a daily basis, something as commonplace as childbirth is still one of the riskiest moments in a woman’s life, especially for women in low- and middle-income countries.
According to the WHO, “a woman’s lifetime risk of maternal death — the probability that a 15-year-old woman will eventually die from a maternal cause — is 1 in 4,900 in developed countries, versus 1 in 180 in developing countries. In countries designated as fragile states, the risk is 1 in 54; showing the consequences from breakdowns in health systems.” One of major causes of these deaths is postpartum hemorrhage — excessive bleeding after childbirth.