Andelen af kvinder i Afrika syd for Sahara, der dør som følge af komplikationer i forbindelse med graviditet, er faldet med mere end en fjerdedel fra 1990 til 2008, skrev IRIN News torsdag den 16. september.
In 1990, the maternal mortality ratio (expressed in deaths per 100.000 live births) was 870 in sub-Saharan Africa, the worst rate of any region in the world. In 2008, it was 640, according to data published jointly by the World Health Organization (WHO), UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and the World Bank.
Globally, the ratio fell by 34 percent, from 400 to 260, states the report, Trends in Maternal Mortality, noting that this represented an annual decline of 2.3 percent. This is less than half the reduction needed to achieve the fifth Millennium Development Goal (MDG), which concerns maternal health.
“There was a 26 percent reduction in maternal death rates in sub-Saharan Africa and this data is encouraging,” Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, executive director of UNFPA, told IRIN.
Læs mere på http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportID=90490
