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Could the use of contraceptives save lives during childbirth? That's what a new study is suggesting. According to researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, contraceptive use likely prevents more than 272,000 maternal deaths from childbirth each year and could reduce maternal deaths by an addition 30 percent if needs are met globally.

Lead Author of the study Saifuddin Ahmed said vaccination prevents child mortality and contraception prevents maternal mortality.

 "Promotion of contraceptive use is an effective primary prevention strategy for reducing maternal mortality in developing countries, Ahmed said. "Our findings reinforce the need to accelerate access to contraception in countries with a low prevalence of contraceptive use where gains in maternal mortality prevention could be greatest."

The study was published by The Lancet as part of a series of articles on family planning.

Researchers say that contraception helps prevents almost 230 million unintended births annually. On a global level, nearly 400,000 women and three million newborn babies die each year because of complications related to pregnancy and childbirth. According to the study, nearly all of the aforementioned deaths occur in developing countries. About 15 percent of pregnancies in developing countries end in maternal death because of unsafe abortions.

Researchers used survey data for contraceptive use and information on births, female population aged 15 to 49 years and general fertility rates of 172 countries from the United Nations World Population Prospects database, 2010 and concluded that in the absence of contraceptive use, the number of maternal deaths would be 1.8 times higher for the study period.

Senior Author Amy Tsui said effective contraception could save lives.

"Unwanted fertility and unmet contraceptive need are still high in many developing countries, and women are repeatedly exposed to life-threatening pregnancy complications that could be avoided with access to effective contraception, Tsui said. "This study demonstrates how use of contraception is a substantial and effective primary prevention strategy for reducing maternal mortality, especially in low-income countries."