After Katy Perry gave birth to her daughter, Daisy Dove Bloom, early this week, the superstar has used the moment to draw attention to maternal and newborn mortality rates around the world.
Perry and her husband, actor Orlando Bloom, announced the arrival of their child on UNICEF’s Instagram channel as a way to call attention to global health issues.
"We are floating with love and wonder from the safe and healthy arrival of our daughter," Perry and Bloom told UNICEF. "But we know we’re the lucky ones and not everyone can have a birthing experience as peaceful as ours was. Communities around the world are still experiencing a shortage of health care workers and every 11 seconds a pregnant woman or newborn dies, mostly from preventable causes."
While UNICEF reported that maternal mortality declined by 38% between 2000 and 2017, it remains a huge issue around the world — with approximately 810 women dying from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth every day in 2017. Almost all of these deaths (94%) were in low- and middle-income countries, according to the World Health Organization.
High-income countries see discrepancies in maternal mortality rates too, in part due to racism in health care. In the US, for instance, Black, Native American, and Alaska Native women are two to three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The United Nations’ Global Goal 3 is to secure good health and well-being for all and includes, among others, a specific target to reduce the global maternal mortality ratio to less than 70 per 100,000 live births by 2030.
As of 2017, the maternal mortality ratio was 462 per 100,000 live births in low-income countries and 11 per 100,000 live births in high-income countries.
Access to necessary resources for pregnant women and mothers and their babies has become another obstacle to confront as COVID-19 has taken center stage when it comes to public health.
"Since COVID-19 many more newborn lives are at risk because of the increased lack of access to water, soap, vaccines, and medicines that prevent diseases," Perry and Bloom added. "As parents to a newborn, this breaks our hearts, as we empathize with struggling parents now more than ever."
Perry and Bloom said that UNICEF is working on the ground to ensure that pregnant women have access to trained health workers and quality care. As UNICEF goodwill ambassadors, the couple set up a donation page to celebrate their daughter’s arrival and to drive support for maternal and newborn health.