Reducing maternal mortality is not just an issue of development but also an issue of human rights
Over half a million women die each year due to complications during pregnancy and birth. The vast majority of these deaths are preventable. At the Millennium Summit in 2000, States resolved to reduce maternal mortality by three quarters by the year 2015. This commitment is encapsulated in the Millennium Development Goals, which derive from
the Millennium Summit commitments, and which have come to play a defining role in international development
efforts. Goal 5 is a commitment to improve maternal health: the reduction of maternal mortality is an outcome chosen to assess progress in this regard.
This resolve by States to reduce maternal mortality is not new. However, never before has the issue been given such prominence on the international development agenda.
Despite longstanding international commitments to reducing maternal mortality, so far progress has been disappointing.2 This briefing illustrates how human rights – and the right to the highest attainable standard
of health (right to health) in particular – can contribute new impetus, frameworks and strategies for reducing maternal mortality.
In recent years, there has been increased recognition that reducing maternal mortality is not just an issue of development, but also an issue of human rights. Preventable maternal mortality occurs where there is a failure to give effect to the rights of women to health, equality and non-discrimination. Preventable maternal mortality also often represents a violation of a woman’s right to life.
Maternal health has a particularly close relationship with the right to the highest attainable standard of health. This fundamental human right is recognised in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, as well as other international human rights treaties. The right to health includes entitlements to goods and services, including sexual and reproductive health care and information.
It requires action to break down political, economic, social and cultural barriers that women face in accessing the
interventions that can prevent maternal mortality. It requires participation by stakeholders in policy and
service development. And it requires accountability for maternal mortality. In short, the promotion and protection of the right to health demands actions that lead to a significant and sustained reduction in maternal mortality.
This briefing introduces the contribution of the right to the highest attainable standard of health to reducing
maternal mortality. This contribution is twofold.
The right to health provides:
- A framework for designing effective policies to reduce maternal mortality;
- Tools and strategies for advocacy and accountability for reducing maternal mortality.
Entitlements and obligations arising from the right to health underpin both of these contributions and are described in the first chapter of this briefing. Policy making and the role of traditional human rights techniques are explored in the second and third chapters respectively. This briefing indicates key contributions that the right to health can make in the context of policy making and through the human rights community’s traditional techniques, such as letter writing campaigns, litigation and advocacy. It also indicates key actions that may be required by policy makers and the human rights community. The briefing does not, however, provide detailed guidance on to how to operationalize the right to health in the context of maternal mortality.
The right to health should lie at the heart of the human rights response to maternal mortality. The right to health is intimately connected to other human rights – including the rights to life and education – which are also highly relevant in the struggle against maternal mortality. While this briefing focuses on the right to health, it also gives some attention to the contribution of other human rights.3