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<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/sep/19/number-women-dying-childbirth-off-track" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193); text-decoration: underline;" title="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/sep/19/number-women-dying-childbirth-off-track
Ctrl+Click or tap to follow the link">https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/sep/19/number-women-dying-childbirth-off-track</a></p>
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<b>NUMBER OF WOMEN DYING IN CHILDBIRTH IS WAY OFF TRACK TO MEET GLOBAL TARGETS</b></p>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">UN figures show slow decrease in maternal mortality rate, with rates on the rise in countries including the United States.</span></p>
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<b><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Direct Link to Full 52-Page 2019 UNICEF Report</span></b><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">:
</span><a href="https://www.unicef.org/media/59931/file/UN-IGME-child-mortality-report-2019.pdf" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193); text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color:blue">https://www.unicef.org/media/59931/file/UN-IGME-child-mortality-report-2019.pdf</span></a><span style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193); text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color:blue"></span></span></p>
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<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/sep/19/number-women-dying-childbirth-off-track#img-1" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193); text-decoration: underline;"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman",serif; color:blue; text-decoration:none"><img 0?="" width="620" height="372" id="Picture_x0020_2" alt="A new baby wrapped in a towel." style="width: 6.4583in; height: 3.875in; user-select: none;" src="service.svc/s/GetFileAttachment?id=AAMkADA2ODU2ZDBkLWYzNWItNGFhOC04ZmVmLWE0OTJiMmYzZWM5OABGAAAAAABGBw2b0skdSLjxkXc4kboFBwBNFUSRsW3TRIo6RTo9vvdQAAAAAAEPAABNFUSRsW3TRIo6RTo9vvdQAAME4vkoAAABEgAQAAVxjzRsR1tDuVUGiUmcFro%3D&X-OWA-CANARY=0LjxBv8WAUqeW1YptEZTvFB_NJyuP9cIoWkOb5D8qvEYHZp49IKgixEG3zOwaEc41b4bzTbOQ5g."></span></a><span style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193); text-decoration: underline;"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman",serif; color:windowtext; text-decoration:none"></span></span></p>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Maternal deaths have fallen by about 38% since 2000, but the pace of decline since 2015 has become very slow. Photograph: Zahara Abdul/Unicef
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<span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">By <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/profile/lizford" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193); text-decoration: underline;">
<span style="color:blue">Liz Ford</span></a></span></p>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">September 19, 2019 - The number of women dying in pregnancy and childbirth has fallen by more than a third since 2000, according to new UN figures, but the rate of decline remains
way off track to meet global targets to cut maternal deaths.</span></p>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">In the US maternal death rates have increased by over 50% and progress in reducing deaths in the 10 countries with the highest rates has slowed since 2000.</span></p>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/maternal-mortality" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193); text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color:blue">Figures</span></a>
published on Thursday show that in 2017 an estimated 295,000 women died from complications in pregnancy and childbirth, compared with 451,000 at the turn of the century. Globally, the maternal mortality ratio – the number of deaths per 100,000 live births
– now stands at 211, compared with 342 in 2000.</span></p>
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<span style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><img 0?="" width="391" height="234" id="Picture_x0020_3" alt="https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/c9176c5d5a30f2bf7153ee0b0719fb66c3325edd/2_0_10413_6250/master/10413.jpg?width=460&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=c14495b61e012f6b05640549702e8f86" style="width: 4.0729in; height: 2.4375in; user-select: none;" src="service.svc/s/GetFileAttachment?id=AAMkADA2ODU2ZDBkLWYzNWItNGFhOC04ZmVmLWE0OTJiMmYzZWM5OABGAAAAAABGBw2b0skdSLjxkXc4kboFBwBNFUSRsW3TRIo6RTo9vvdQAAAAAAEPAABNFUSRsW3TRIo6RTo9vvdQAAME4vkoAAABEgAQAJZhfcw0q9JKjRQcemHTn9M%3D&X-OWA-CANARY=0LjxBv8WAUqeW1YptEZTvFB_NJyuP9cIoWkOb5D8qvEYHZp49IKgixEG3zOwaEc41b4bzTbOQ5g."></span><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"></span></p>
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<b><span lang="EN" style="font-size:14.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Why do women still die giving birth?
</span></b></p>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">While the decrease was welcomed, there are concerns that the slow pace of change means reaching the target in the UN sustainable development goals (SDGs) of no more than 70 deaths
per 100,000 live births by 2030, would be unlikely.</span></p>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The pace of decline since 2015, when the SDGs were agreed, has been particularly slow.</span></p>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Poverty, inadequate and sometimes expensive health services and a lack of political will are among the main reasons for the deaths, which are often preventable with the right care.</span></p>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Anneka Knutsson, chief of the UN population fund (UNFPA) sexual and reproductive branch, said: “Although it’s true that more women and children are surviving today, the slight decrease
in maternal deaths between 2015 and 2017 is deeply concerning.”</span></p>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The new statistics, she said, suggested the SDG target would not be reached “unless we dramatically increase and accelerate our efforts to improve maternal health care by bolstering
overall sexual and reproductive healthcare”.</span></p>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">“I think this new statistic should alarm us all,” she said. “Also, the new number hides the fact that huge inequalities still exist between and within countries. We also know that
lack of quality care is a major killer. We simply must do better. We need to be accountable.”</span></p>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><a href="file://Volumes/Downloads/Internet%20Downloads/Maternal_mortality_ratio_2000-2017_Executive_summary.pdf" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193); text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color:blue">The
figures</span></a>, published by the World Health Organization, the UNFPA, the UN children’s agency (Unicef) the World Bank and the UN Population Division, are based on data collated from countries with populations of more than 100,000, plus Puerto Rico and
the West Bank and Gaza.</span></p>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The UN said collecting accurate data remained a challenge in countries with inadequate reporting systems, which means the actual figures are likely to be higher.</span></p>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Two-thirds of deaths still occur in sub-Saharan Africa. In 2017, the estimated number of deaths in the region was 196,000, compared with 201,000 in 2015. In Europe the figure is 740.
The MMR for sub-Saharan Africa is 542, compared with 10 in Europe.</span></p>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">In South Sudan, Chad, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Central African Republic, Somalia, Mauritania, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Afghanistan – the 10 countries with the highest maternal mortality
ratio (MMR) – the annual rates of reduction are stagnating or slowing<i>.</i></span></p>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The US has seen maternal deaths rise from 12 per 100,000 live births in 2000 to 19 in 2017.</span></p>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Southern Asia has made the greatest strides in maternal survival with a nearly 60% reduction in the MMR since 2000. But India, along with Nigeria,
<a href="file://Volumes/Downloads/Internet%20Downloads/Maternal_mortality_ratio_2000-2017_Executive_summary.pdf" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193); text-decoration: underline;">
<span style="color:blue">accounted for a third of global maternal deaths in 2017</span></a>.</span></p>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">A <a href="https://www.nairobisummiticpd.org/content/about-nairobi-summit" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193); text-decoration: underline;">
<span style="color:blue">conference</span></a> in November, organised by the UNFPA and the Kenyan and Danish governments, will be calling on governments to increase their efforts to end preventable maternal deaths.</span></p>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">On Thursday, the UN also published data that showed child deaths had been cut by
<a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/children-reducing-mortality" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193); text-decoration: underline;">
<span style="color:blue">almost half</span></a> between 1990 and 2018. The total number of under-five deaths fell to 5.3 million in 2018 from 12.5 million in 1990.</span></p>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">“Around the world, birth is a joyous occasion. Yet, every 11 seconds, a birth is a family tragedy,” said Henrietta Fore, Unicef’s executive director. “A skilled pair of hands to help
mothers and newborns around the time of birth, along with clean water, adequate nutrition, basic medicines and vaccines, can make the difference between life and death. We must do all it takes to invest in universal health coverage to save these precious lives.”</span></p>
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