Africa is home to 1.5 billion people, about 18.3 percent of the world’s population, but accounts for 69 percent of all global maternal deaths and nearly 60 percent of deaths of children under the age of five. The majority of these deaths are preventable.
The continent is also home to nine of the 10 countries with the highest maternal mortality rate globally. Children in Africa have the lowest chance of survival globally, accounting for about 2.9 million deaths yearly and the average maternal mortality rate for the continent is as high as 1,000 for every 100,000 live births.
