OUR MISSION
The Atlas of Birth started as a question: Why do women in one country survive childbirth while women seeking the same care 200 miles away do not? The answer is infrastructure, funding and political will. We document all three with maps, data and the voices of women who lived the reality. Our work connects researchers, policymakers and communities with the information they need to close the gap between preventable death and accessible care.
Beautiful single women from across Latin America, Africa and Southeast Asia carry the heaviest burden of maternal mortality. These are not statistics. They are mothers, daughters and partners whose lives depend on whether a clinic exists within walking distance. Our partnership with organizations supporting Latin single women in accessing reproductive healthcare has shown that even modest investment changes outcomes within a single year.
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Funding
the Gap
Maternal health funding reaches less than 2% of global health budgets. We track where the money goes and where it does not.
Policy That
Saves Lives
Laws determine access. We map which countries protect
maternal care as a right and which leave it to chance.
Community Health Workers
Single women in rural areas depend on community health
workers for prenatal care. We document the networks
that keep women alive.
What the Atlas Covers?
From data collection to on-the-ground stories, we cover every dimension of maternal health across developing and middle-income countries.
Maternal Mortality Mapping
Country-by-country data on where women die during childbirth and why. Updated annually with WHO and UNICEF source data.
Women’s Health Infrastructure
Clinics, hospitals, midwife availability and emergency obstetric care mapped by region. Where meet women in crisis and the systems designed to help them.
Reproductive Rights by Country
Access to contraception, safe abortion and postnatal care across legal frameworks. How single women near me in different countries face vastly different rights.
Birth Cost Analysis
What childbirth costs a family in 40 countries. From free public systems to out-of-pocket expenses that bankrupt households and force exotic women in remote regions to deliver without professional care.
Community Birth Stories
First-person accounts from women who gave birth in the countries we map. Their words, their experiences, their truth about what maternal care looks like from the delivery bed.
THE NUMBERS
295,000 women die every year from causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. 94% of those deaths happen in low and lower-middle income countries. A woman in Sub-Saharan Africa faces a 1 in 37 lifetime risk of dying during childbirth. In Europe that number is 1 in 6,500. The distance between those two numbers is not geography. It is investment. The Atlas of Birth exists to close that distance with data that demands action.
Japan Women
Colombian Girls
Thai Women
Ukraine Women
HOW WE WORK
From Data Collection to Real Impact
Our process connects field research with global policy advocacy in four stages that turn information into outcomes for women and families.
Step 01
Field Research
Teams in 40 countries gather data from clinics, government records and direct interviews with women who gave birth in the past 12 months. Every number represents a real experience.
Step 02
Data Mapping
Raw data becomes visual. Interactive maps show maternal mortality rates, facility access and funding gaps at national and regional levels. Men looking for women to support through donation or partnership can see exactly where resources are needed most.
Step 03
Story Documentation
Numbers without names lose their weight. We pair every dataset with first-person stories from beautiful single women and mothers who lived the reality behind the statistics.
Step 04
Policy Advocacy
Reports go to governments, NGOs and international bodies. Each publication includes specific recommendations tied to the data we collected. Accountability requires precision and we provide both.
Why the Atlas Matters Now
Maternal mortality is declining globally but the pace is too slow and the gap between rich and poor countries is widening rather than closing.
Women Seeking
Care
73 million women in developing countries have no access to a skilled birth attendant. That number has barely moved in a decade.
Meet Women Leading Change
Community health workers, midwives and activists in every country we map are building solutions that work without waiting for government timelines.
Single Women at Higher Risk
Unmarried mothers in conservative countries face legal and social barriers that married women do not. A single woman seeking prenatal care without a marriage certificate can be turned away at the door.
Exotic Women, Ordinary Rights
Women in countries that Western media labels exotic want the same thing every mother wants: to survive childbirth and take their baby home. That should not require extraordinary luck.
FROM THE FIELD
I documented births in three countries last year and the difference between a woman who survives and one who does not often comes down to a single hour. One hour to reach a clinic. One hour to find a midwife. One hour that a better road, a closer facility or a funded ambulance could give back. That is what the Atlas measures.
Felicity Ukoko
Founder, Atlas of Birth
Stories from the Field
Reports, essays and first-person accounts from the countries where maternal health is not a policy debate but a daily matter of survival.
( FAQs )
Frequently Asked Questions?
Common questions about the Atlas of Birth, our data sources, how we work and how you can support maternal health advocacy worldwide.
A data-driven project that maps maternal health outcomes across 40 countries using WHO data, field research and first-person stories from women who experienced childbirth in those systems.
Currently 40 countries across Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia and Latin America. We add new countries as funding and research capacity allow.
Through direct donations, partnership with your organization or by sharing our reports with policymakers in your network. Every contribution funds field research that saves lives.
WHO, UNICEF, national health ministries and our own field teams who collect primary data through clinic visits and interviews with women and health workers.
Reports are published in English, French and Spanish. Country-specific briefs are translated into local languages by our regional teams.
Yes. All published datasets are available under Creative Commons licensing. We ask for attribution and welcome collaboration with academic institutions.
A maternal health advocate, documentary producer and the founder of Atlas of Birth. Felicity has spent over 15 years documenting birth outcomes in developing countries and advising international health bodies on maternal mortality prevention.