Maternal mortality drops
In a report of UN Children's Fund (Unicef), it came out that maternal mortality fell by 22 percent in South Asia (from 650 to 500 deaths per 1,00,000 live births). The report says that antenatal care and childbirth attendance rates in the region have also improved. It said that India, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan were still among the 10 South Asian countries that accounted for almost two thirds of maternal deaths globally. Here only 41 percent of all births are delivered by a health professional. In India an estimated 14.4 million births a year are not attended by health professionals. Antenatal care coverage in South Asia is the lowest in the world, but improvements are also proceeding more rapidly than any other region.
The goal is care for women and children that includes prevention of unplanned pregnancies and unsafe abortions, provision of high quality pregnancy and delivery care including nutrition and emergency obstetric care.
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