The authors projected pre-pandemic maternal mortality trajectories for 195 countries from WHO/UN MMEIG estimates for 2000-2019 and compared them with estimates for 2020-2023. Cumulative excess maternal deaths were 68,489 (95% UI 34,706-147,118), with detectable excess in 113 countries and the largest burdens in South-East Asia, the Eastern Mediterranean and Africa. In a self-selected subset of 39 countries, disruption to antenatal care, facility delivery and postnatal care was not clearly associated with the deviation in maternal mortality ratio.
Why it is interesting: Puts a figure on the departure of maternal deaths from pre-pandemic trajectories, and sets it against national service-disruption indicators that did not clearly explain it.