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There has been an increase in the number of women dying during pregnancy or in the six weeks after the end of pregnancy in the UK, according to a new report produced by researchers from the National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit at the University of Oxford.

Picture of a female doctor and a female patient

The report, Saving Lives, Improving Mothers’ Care, shows that 225 women died from direct and indirect causes during 2014-20161 (9.8 women for every 100,000 women giving birth). This compares to 202 in 2013-15 (8.8 per 100,000).

The analysis, produced for the latest MBRRACE-UK (Mothers and Babies – Reducing Risk through Audits and Confidential Enquiries across the UK) Confidential Enquiry into Maternal Deaths and Morbidity2, also shows major differences amongst ethnic groups – black women are five times more likely and Asian women two times more likely to die than white women.

Find out more (University of Oxford website)