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Direct Link to Report: http://www.unicef.org/publications/files/Progress_for_Children-No._7_Lo-Res_082008.pdf
Millennium Development Goal 5 is to improve maternal health, and its bold target is to reduce the maternal mortality ratio by three quarters between 1990 and 2015. Still, each year more than half a million women die from pregnancy-related causes that are avoidable. At the present rate of progress, the world will fall well short of the MDG 5 target. This report details progress in maternal health and highlights areas where improvements are needed.
UNICEF report calls
deaths of mothers ‘an unspeakable tragedy’ for women and children
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UNICEF/HQ07-1056/Asselin |
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Mariama
Coulibaly, 16, sits on a bed in a maternity ward in Senegal during the final
stages of labour. UNICEF supports maternal and child health programmes in the
region. |
By Chris Niles
NEW YORK, USA, 19 September 2008 – A report released by UNICEF today reveals a shocking discrepancy between the toll that pregnancy and childbirth takes on women in the developing world compared with those in industrialized nations.
‘Progress for Children: A Report Card on Maternal Mortality’ shows that more than half a million women die unnecessarily every year due to complications from pregnancy and childbirth – and 99 per cent of those deaths occur in developing countries.
The worst regions in which to give birth are sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, which together account for 84 per cent of maternal deaths. The worst country in the world for maternal mortality is Niger, where the risk of death is estimated at one in seven.
Underlying causes of maternal death
“This is an unspeakable tragedy,” said UNICEF’s Chief of Health, Dr. Peter
Salama. “The causes of maternal mortality are clear, as are the means to combat
them. Yet women continue to die unnecessarily.”
Women are dying because they are not getting basic health care before, during and after giving birth, the report says. Societal attitudes, particularly the low status of women, also play a significant role in hindering women from getting the care that they need.
“We need to address the fundamental, underlying causes [such as] women’s low status, increase education levels of girls and do what we can to increase women’s empowerment,” said Dr. Salama.
Scaling up health services
While there have been improvements in some countries, overall maternal mortality
remains one of the most neglected areas of health care. A drastic scaling up of
consistent, reliable health services is needed to reach the 2015 Millennium
Development Goal of reducing maternal deaths by 75 per cent.
The ‘Progress for Children’ report stresses that improving women’s health is not just a moral imperative but one that make good economic sense – because children who have a healthy mother are more likely to be healthy themselves.
“We know that with women who are sick, and women who have died, the child
won’t have access to crucial breast milk in the first six months of life,” said
Dr. Salama. “And there’s very solid data to suggest that actual death rates are
higher for children who grow up without mothers.”
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