Keep Saving Mothers Keep On Track
SAVE THE CHILDREN
Mothers always put family and children first. Often, they do not give priority to their health and the health issue of women are frequently overlooked. But improving mothers' health, preventing unnecessary maternal deaths would ultimately help in both way for mothers as well as their babies. On ahead of International Mother's Day on this Sunday, a little light projected here to show the state of Bangladeshi mothers and ways to move forward. Recent data published this year from Bangladesh Maternal Mortality and Health Care Survey (BMMS) shows that maternal mortality has dropped by 40 percent in last 9 years from 322 in 2001 to 194 in 2010. The rate of decline was at an average about 5.5 percent compared to average annual reduction rate of about 5.4 percent for achieving the primary target of MDG-5. It seems that Bangladesh is on the track of reaching target to reduce maternal mortality ratio by three quarters by 2015. Now the target is to cut the number of death from 194 to 143 per 100,000 live births. This is a significant achievement. Yet, thousands more lives could be saved by strengthening and expanding our support for basic, low-cost health services and the front line health workers who deliver lifesaving care. Although the proportion of women delivering in a healthcare facility has risen to 23 percent in 2010, still, 2.4 million births take place annually at home. Births with Skilled Birth Attendance (SBA) have doubled (26.5 percent) in last 9 years but almost entirely increased in a facility centre, not at home. It signifies the need of improvement and expanding services at healthcare facilities to increase the use of SBA. Although maternal mortality during pregnancy and delivery has declined by 50 percent, reduction of death in post-partum (period after delivery) is insignificant and accounts for 73 percent of all maternal deaths. So, care including referral system and referral level care after delivery should be increased. Haemorrhage specially in post-partum still the main cause of death followed by eclampsia (life threatening pregnancy complication characterised by high blood pressure and convulsion). Some haemmorage cases can be avoided by proper management of placenta. Antenatal care (ANC), a component of safe motherhood, is still lower which needs to be increased. Less than one in four (23.4 percent) women receive the recommended four or more ANC visits in Bangladesh. This year, Save the Children ranked Bangladesh 18 out of 42 least developed countries category. We need to go forward on the top of the list and should step up our efforts to achieve an additional 25 percent reduction in the maternal mortality ratio. Future gains in maternal mortality may be achieved by ensuring effective family planning to lower fertility to replacement level and below, promoting the rising trends in education levels among young women. When mothers have access to basic health care like antenatal care, skilled attendance before, during and after childbirth, referral level care and inexpensive medicine including antibiotics and other lifesaving drugs, thousands would survived who otherwise died. Let us help them survive.
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