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Maternal deaths around the world fell by 44 per cent since 1990, with an estimated global maternal mortality ratio (MMR) of 216 deaths for 1 lakh live births in 2015, down from 385 in 1990, a report by United Nations agencies and the World Bank Group said on Thursday.
Nigeria and India account for over one-third of all maternal deaths worldwide in 2015, with roughly 58,000 maternal deaths (19 per cent) and 45,000 maternal deaths (15 per cent), respectively, said the report from World Health Organisation, UNICEF, UNFPA, World Bank Group and the UN Population Division.
India, which has missed the millennium development goal (MDG) target of reducing MMR by at least 75 per cent between 1990 and 2015, had an annual rate of reduction in MMR at 4.6 per cent between 1990 and 2015. But, compared with 2000-2015 at 5.1 per cent, the average annual rate of decline stood at 4.7 per cent in 2005-2015, the report said.
Quality treatment The report said ensuring access to high-quality health services during pregnancy and child birth was among the key reasons that helped save lives, but also pointed out at “uneven gains.”
Overall, only nine countries achieved the MDG target. These are — Bhutan, Cabo Verde, Cambodia, Iran, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Maldives, Mongolia, Rwanda and Timor-Leste. However, the greatest improvement of 72 per cent reduction was in East Asia, which includes China, where MMR fell from about 95 to 27 for 1 lakh live births.
Babatunde Osotimehin, Executive Director, the UN Population Fund, said “many countries with high maternal death rates will make little progress, or will even fall behind, over the next 15 years if we don’t improve the current number of available midwives and other health workers with midwifery skills.”
Good, but not enough Flavia Bustreo, WHO Assistant Director-General, Family, Women’s and Children’s Health, said “over the past 25 years, a woman’s risk of dying from pregnancy-related causes has nearly halved. That’s real progress, although it is not enough.”
The report, the last in a series that looks at progress under the MDG, defines maternal mortality as “the death of a woman during pregnancy, childbirth or within six weeks after birth,” a WHO release said.
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