Latest update March 28th, 2024 12:59 AM
May 09, 2014 News
Guyana, like a number of countries across the globe, is struggling is yet struggling to reduce its maternal mortality ratio in keeping with the Millennium Development Goal Five (MDG5), which speaks specifically to improving maternal health.
Based on data from the Ministry of Health, Guyana recorded a total of 25 maternal deaths in 2012 and 18 last year.
However, information detailed in a recently publicized Report – “Trends in Maternal Mortality: 1990 to 2013’ – Guyana’s maternal mortality ratio (MMR) is in fact the second highest in the Caribbean.
The Report, which contains estimates by WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA, the World Bank and the United Nations Population Division, details the MMR for countries over the period 1990 through 2013 and reveals that Haiti with 380, currently has the highest ratio in the Caribbean. However, this represents a significant reduction for Haiti from 670 in 1990.
Guyana’s 250 MMR on the other hand represents a slight reduction since in 1990 there was a 210 MMR, according to the Report.
All other Caribbean territories countries detailed in the Report had a MMR of less than 100 in 2013, with the exception of the Dominican Republic, which had a MMR of exactly 100.
According to the Report, 11 of the countries examined are categorized as “on track” including: Maldives (93%), Bhutan (87%), Cambodia (86%), Equatorial Guinea (81%), Lao People’s Democratic Republic (80%), Romania (80%), Timor-Leste (78%), Cabo Verde (77%), Eritrea (77%), Nepal (76%), Rwanda (76%).
However countries with an MMR of less than 100 in 1990 have not been categorized while a further 63 countries are characterized as ‘making progress.’ Further still, it was noted that 13 countries have made ‘insufficient progress’ and there are two countries that have made none.
A total of 40 countries were listed with the highest MMR in 2013 with Sierra Leone estimated to have the highest MMR at 1,100. A further 15 countries in sub-Saharan Africa have very high MMR including: Chad (980); Central African Republic (880); Somalia (850); Burundi (740); Democratic Republic of the Congo (730); South Sudan (730); Côte d’Ivoire (720); Guinea (650); Liberia (640); Niger (630); Cameroon (590); Guinea-Bissau (560); Nigeria (560); Mali (550); and Malawi (510). Only two countries outside sub-Saharan African region had high MMR: Afghanistan (400) and Haiti (380).
In contrast, Cabo Verde and Mauritius were the only two sub-Saharan African countries that had low MMR at 53 and 73 maternal deaths per 100, 000 live births respectively.
Regarding adult lifetime risk of maternal mortality, Chad and Somalia had the highest at one in 15 and one in 18, respectively. The estimated lifetime risk for maternal mortality in developing regions is one in 3,700 in comparison to developed regions where the lifetime risk is one in 160.
It was pointed out too in the Report that a number of initiatives that commenced in recent years are geared towards achievement of the MDG5, particularly following the launch of the Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health in 2010 by the United Nations.
Subsequently, the high-level Commission on Information and Accountability for Women’s and Children’s Health was established to “determine the most effective international institutional arrangements for global reporting, oversight and accountability on women’s and children’s health.”
One of the 10 recommendations of the Commission was specific to improving measurement of maternal (and child) deaths. This recommendation requires that “by 2015, all countries have taken significant steps to establish a system for registration of births, deaths and causes of death, and have well-functioning health information systems that combine data from facilities, administrative sources and surveys.”
The first report of the independent Expert Review Group (iERG), established by the commission for overseeing the progress in achievement of the commission’s 10 recommendations, indicated insufficient progress in the implementation of the recommendations including the one on ‘vital events’ reporting.
However, it was noted that measuring the MDG5 target of reducing the MMR (target 5A) remains a challenge.
Globally, there were an estimated 289, 000 maternal deaths in 2013, a decline of 45% from 1990. The sub-Saharan Africa region alone accounted for 62% (179,000) of global deaths followed by Southern Asia at 24%.
At the country level, the two countries that accounted for one third of all global maternal deaths are India at 17% (50, 000) and Nigeria at 14% (40, 000). The global MMR in 2013 was 210 maternal deaths per 100, 000 live births, down from 380 maternal deaths per 100, 000 live births in 1990.
Meanwhile, it was highlighted that the MMR in developing regions (230) was 14 times higher than in developed regions (16).
The details of the Report concluded that Sub-Saharan Africa had the highest MMR (510) and of the remaining MDG developing regions, five had low MMR: Eastern Asia (33); Caucasus and Central Asia (39); Northern Africa (69); Western Asia (74); and Latin America and the Caribbean (85). There were however, three that had moderate MMR: South-eastern Asia (140); Southern Asia (190); and Oceania (190).
It was also detailed in the Report that less than 40 per cent of countries have a complete civil registration system with good attribution of cause of death, which is necessary for the accurate measurement of maternal mortality.
THIS IDIOT TELLING GUYANA WE HAVE NO SAY IN THE 50% PROFIT SHARING AGREEMENT WE HAVE WITH EXXON.
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