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Unicef says if India is to achieve the Millennium Development Goal of slashing maternal mortality figures by three-quarters, by 2015, it must tackle critical social and economic factors
For every 100,000 births in India, 301 mothers die annually with an estimated 80,000 pregnant women and new mothers dying each year across the country from preventable causes including haemorrhage, eclampsia, sepsis and anaemia, says a new United Nations study. The study adds that many deaths go unrecorded because they occur at home or before the woman reaches a medical facility for help. “The tragic reality is that too often maternal deaths are not visible. They don’t leave behind any trace, and the deaths are not accounted for,” said Chris Hirabayashi, Unicef India’s deputy director of programmes. “Medical records only capture part of the story, documenting the biological causes of death.” The agency is working with health authorities in selected districts in the six states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan and West Bengal to promote surveillance as a crucial strategy to cut both maternal and child mortality. Dr S P Yadav, director of medical and health services in Rajasthan, said: “Unless we know the main reasons for maternal deaths we cannot take effective measures to tackle them. The traditional system did not deal with the issue adequately.” Unicef says that if India is to achieve the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of slashing maternal mortality rates by three-quarters by 2015, it must tackle critical social and economic factors such as the low status of women, poor understanding in many families about healthcare, the costs of such care, and also the bad state of roads and forms of transport. Last month, a broader Unicef report found that at least 500,000 women die unnecessarily around the world each year because of complications related to pregnancy or childbirth, with the vast majority of deaths occurring in the developing world. The organisation has launched the Maternal and Prenatal Death Inquiry and Response programme, which is funded by the British Department For International Development. Unicef is providing technical support to the initiative. Developed by the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the new programme was adapted to local needs and tested in the six states, between 2005 and 2008, among 1,600 women, the largest sample of audited maternal deaths in the world. The findings, which were released in India this week, highlighted the efficacy of the programme in promoting surveillance as a key strategy in lowering maternal and child mortality, especially within the context of India’s National Rural Health Mission (NRHM). State governments, health and nutrition officials and NGOs headed by a member of the local village council conducted interviews with surviving family members at the community level. The findings will help communities and health systems analyse the underlying medical and social reasons behind the deaths and guide them as they develop appropriate high-impact local interventions to bring down maternal mortality. Source: PTI, October 8, 2008
www.livemint.com, October 2008
www.un.org, October 2008
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