The Atlas of African Health Statistics 2022 indicates that the fight against maternal and child mortality on the continent has made little progress compared to the last decade and calls for more action.

The document, which UN News - the official media outlet of the United Nations - released on Friday, assessed nine vectors related to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on health and concluded that, at the current pace, it will be necessary to increase investment in order to accelerate action towards meeting the goals.

Compared to the results of the previous decade, the new World Health Organization report estimates that in sub-Saharan Africa 390 women will lose their lives every day for every 100,000 births by 2030.

The figure is five times higher than the targets for 2030, less than 70 deaths of pregnant women for every 100,000 births. It is also higher than the average of 13 deaths per 100,000 births in Europe in 2017. The global average is 211 maternal deaths.

WHO/Africa says that in order to achieve the SDGs, the continent will need to reduce maternal mortality levels by 86% from 2017, the year the latest data was reported. For the agency, that target would be unrealistic given the pace of the current decline.

Infant mortality rates, for example, are 72 for every 1,000 live births. The annual reduction is 3.1%, and a drop of 54 deaths for every thousand births is expected by 2030.

These figures are well above the target of a reduction to less than 25 per thousand births.

The WHO's regional director for Africa, Matshidiso Moeti, says that the continent has managed to achieve some of the fastest levels of reduction in the globe in certain health areas, but is losing them at the moment.

Thus, for many African women, having a baby is still a risk and millions of children die before reaching the age of five.

For her, governments need to radically correct that course and step up the pace in meeting health targets.

For the WHO regional director, the goals "are not just milestones, but the very basis of a healthier life and well-being for millions of people".

Africa also faces other health challenges, such as the scale of vaccination.

Under-five mortality fell by 35%, and newborn deaths were also reduced by 21%. While maternal deaths fell by 28%.

In the last decade, progress in three areas has stagnated, especially in maternal mortality.

The continent has made progress, however, in the area of family planning, with 56.3% of women of reproductive age receiving contraceptive methods in 2020. But even in this area, Africa is well below the global average of 77%.

The WHO believes that the reduction in health actions has been exacerbated by the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the health sector.

Services for post-natal care and neo-natal intensive care units, as well as immunization campaigns were affected.

That's why, since 2021, Africa has faced a return to outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases. Measles, for example, increased by 400% between January and March 2022, compared to the same period the previous year.

Inadequate investment in health and funding for health programs are some of the biggest setbacks to achieving the SDGs in health, writes UN News.

He recalled that last year, a WHO survey of 47 African states found that a portion of that region has 1.55 health workers, including doctors, midwives and nurses, for every 1,000 inhabitants.

An average below the density threshold of 4.45 professionals per thousand inhabitants, which is necessary to provide essential services and achieve universal health coverage.

On the African continent, 65% of births are delivered by qualified personnel, the lowest rate in the world and a long way from the target of 90% by 2030.

Neonatal deaths account for almost half of all deaths of children under five.

Therefore, accelerating the agenda to reduce these deaths could be the biggest step towards reducing under-five deaths to less than 25 per thousand births.