The World Health Organization (WHO) and partners have launched a new global roadmap to tackle hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, including pre-eclampsia, which affect millions of women every year.
These disorders remain among the leading causes of death and serious illness for pregnant women and their babies, with a tragic long-term impact on their families.
Hypertensive disorders complicate an estimated 10–15% of pregnancies worldwide. They account for around 16% of maternal deaths globally, resulting in an estimated 42 000 deaths each year, as well as more than 500 000 stillbirths and newborn deaths.
The Director of WHO’s Department of Sexual, Reproductive, Maternal, Child, Adolescent Health and Ageing, Dr Pascale Allotey, says Pre-eclampsia can develop in any pregnancy. Whether it becomes fatal depends on whether a woman’s blood pressure was checked in time, and whether quality emergency care was within reach when it turned severe.
The roadmap highlights a striking innovation gap between the scale of the problem and the lack of medicines specifically developed and approved by regulators for the prevention or treatment of pre-eclampsia or eclampsia.
