Maternal mortality: deaths from hemorrhage reduced but inequalities remain

Between 2010 and 2012, 256 women died in France from causes linked to pregnancy, labor, or following childbirth, amounting to 85 such cases a year. Although inequalities remain, improvements have been observed in the provision of labor care, with the death rate from hemorrhage halving. These epidemiological results have been made public by the triennial report of the Confidential Inquiry into Maternal Deaths (Enquête Confidentielle sur les Morts Maternelles, ENCMM) in regard to the period 2010-2012, which was led by Inserm's EPOPé - "Obstetrical, Perinatal, and Pediatric Epidemiology Team" - at the Center of Research in Epidemiology and Statistics Sorbonne Paris Cité (CRESS, Unit 1153). Considered internationally as a reflection of the overall quality of a country's health care system, maternal mortality rate constitutes a key indicator of public health. Co-ordinated by the Inserm EPOPé team since 1996 and led by Catherine Deneux-Tharaux, the Confidential Inquiry into Maternal Deaths (ENCMM) facilitates comprehensive identification of the causes of deaths in women occurring before, during, or following labor. This enables all the information to be collated in order to understand the chain of events leading to a death, and the lessons that can be learned for the future. This analysis, led by the National Expert Committee on Maternal Mortality (part of Santé Publique France, the French public health agency, since 2014), allows for any failings in the health care system to be brought to light, and is also responsible for considering non-fatal complications, which are more common but more difficult to study.