GENEVA, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- The world's maternal
mortality ratio is declining too slowly to meet the target set in the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said on
Friday.
While an annual decline of 5.5 percent in maternal
mortality ratios between 1990 and 2015 is required to achieve the MDGs, latest
figures released by UN agencies show an annual decline of less than 1 percent,
UNICEF said in a statement.
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Future mothers attend a workshop in Lima's maternity hospital, May 10, 2007.(Xinhua/Reuters File Photo)
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According to UN figures, worldwide 536,000 women died
of maternal causes in 2005, compared to 576,000 in 1990. Ninety-nine percent of
these deaths occurred in developing countries.
Maternal mortality indicators show the greatest gap
between rich and poor countries among all other health measures, UNICEF said.
The maternal mortality ratio in 2005 was highest in
developing regions, with 450 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births, in stark
contrast to nine in developed regions.
Moreover, the small drop in the global maternal
mortality ratio reflects mainly the declines that have taken place in countries
with relatively low levels of maternal mortality.
Countries with the highest initial levels of
mortality have made virtually no progress over the past 15 years.
The new maternal mortality estimates also show that
while gains are being made in middle-income countries, the annual decline
between 1990 and 2005 in sub-Saharan Africa was only 0.1 percent.
Slightly more than one half of the maternal deaths
(270,000) occurred in the sub-Saharan Africa region, followed by South Asia
(188,000). Together, these two regions accounted for 86 percent of the world's
maternal deaths in 2005.
According to UNICEF, improving health care for women
and providing universal access to reproductive health services must be
prioritized in order to achieve the relative target set in the MDGs.
Increasing female education, improving gender
equality are also essential elements of strategies to reduce maternal mortality.
