Maternal deaths 'unacceptable'
More efforts are needed to care for pregnant women worldwide
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Friday, 12, Oct 2007 05:20
Not enough progress is being made to reduce the number of women who die in pregnancy or childbirth worldwide, according to a report today.
Released jointly by the World Health Organisation (WHO), Unicef and UNFPA, the study says the world's maternal mortality ratio is declining too slowly to meet a key millennium development goal.
This goal (MDG5) aims to reduce the number of women who die in pregnancy and childbirth by three quarters by 2015.
To achieve this it is estimated that an annual decline of 5.5 per cent in maternal mortality ratios is needed, but today's report says there is an annual decline of just one per cent.
Developing countries have the highest rates of maternal deaths; in 2005 they had 450 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births, in contrast to nine in developed regions and 51 in the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States.
The report warns that the small drop in mortality rates has mainly occurred in countries that already have relatively low levels of maternal mortality. Countries with the highest initial levels of mortality are said to have made virtually no progress in the past 15 years.
In Africa a 15-year-old girl has a one in 26 chance of dying from a pregnancy or childbirth complication compared to one in 7,300 in developed regions.
To redress the situation, the report says health care for women must be improved worldwide and universal access to reproductive health services must be prioritised.
"To achieve MDG5 targets by 2015 will need a huge and urgent emphasis on improved pregnancy and delivery care throughout the developing world," the report concludes.
"Identifying progress by 2015 will also require a major investment in data availability and data quality."