Maternal death has fallen by almost half since 1990, according to the report “Trends in Maternal mortality: 1990 to 2010”. Nevertheless, many countries, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, will fail to reach MGD 5.
Maternal death has fallen by almost half since 1990, according to the report “Trends in Maternal mortality: 1990 to 2010”. The report was presented by the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the World Bank in mid May 2012. It states that from 1990 to 2010, the annual number of women dying due to pregnancy or childbirth-related complications dropped from more than 543,000 to 287,000.
Nevertheless, every two minutes, a woman dies of pregnancy-related complications. Ninety-nine per cent of maternal deaths occur in developing countries, and one third of all maternal deaths occur in just two countries – in 2010, almost 20 percent of deaths (56,000) were in India and 14 percent (40,000) were in Nigeria. Of the 40 countries with the world’s highest rates of maternal death, 36 are in Sub-Saharan Africa. In Sub-Saharan Africa, a woman faces a 1 in 39 lifetime risk of dying due to pregnancy or childbirth-related complications. By comparison, in South-eastern Asia the risk is 1 in 290, and in developed countries, it is 1 in 3,800.
Ten countries have already reached the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target of a 75-per cent reduction in maternal death from 1990 to 2015: Belarus, Bhutan, Equatorial Guinea, Estonia, Iran, Lithuania, Maldives, Nepal, Romania and Viet Nam. But many countries, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, will fail to reach this goal.
