Pregnancy and Child Birth Risks Have Declined, UNICEF Reports
by Rudolph Yap in Health News on Dec 05, 2010
According to a report released Wednesday, the number of women who dies because of pregnancy and child birth tremendously dropped by a third the past two decades. This news has been reported and proved to be true by four world bodies, World Health Organization and UNICEF included.
In the report, the number decreased by 34 percent from an estimated number of 546, 000 in the year 1990 to 358, 000 in the year 2008.
World Health Organization Director-General Margaret Chan expressed that the reduction of in maternal death rates globally is encouraging news for everyone. While this is the case, the report further noted that the “rate of decline is still less than half of what is needed to achieve the Millennium Development Goal of a 75 percent reduction by the year 2015.”
Chan explained that the reason for the decrease number of death rates is that countries are “taking more effective measures such as training more midwives and strengthening hospitals and health centers to assist pregnant women.” In addition, these steps are greatly made by countries that have higher risks of such deaths.
Furthermore, Chan encouraged, “No woman should die due to inadequate access to family planning and to pregnancy and delivery care.”
The report also stated the four major reasons why women death due to pregnancy and child birth: (1) severe bleeding after childbirth, (2) infections, (3) hypertensive disorders, and (4) unsafe abortion.
UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake suggested, “To achieve our global goal of improving maternal health and to save women’s lives, we need to do more to reach those who are most at risk.” This actually means that the organizations need to reach those women living in rural areas and poorer households, women belonging to ethnic minorities, and women suffering from HIV and in conflicting areas.
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