Trends in Maternal Mortality- A Report

Trends in Maternal Mortality was jointly released by WHO, Unicef, UNFPA and World Bank on 15 Sept 2010. According to the report India's maternal mortality rate (MMR) is the highest though the country managed to pull down maternal mortality rate (MMR) by 59% between 1990 and 2008. India’s MMR that stood at 570 in 1990fell progressively in the following years to 470 per 100,000 live births in 1995,390 in 2000,280 in 2005 and 230 in 2008. India’s MMR currently stands at 63000 maternal deaths a year and since 1990 the country witnessed an annual decrease in MMR by 4.9%. However, the report pointed out that the annual rate of fall in MMR is less than half needed to achieve the MDG target of reducing the MMR by 75% between 1990 and 2015. To achieve the MDG target an annual decline of 5.5% would be required.  According to the report, the number of maternal deaths in Asia showed 52% decline. The adult lifetime risk of maternal death is highest in sub-Saharan Africa (1 in 31), followed by Oceania (1 in 110) and South Asia (1 in 120). The developed regions recorded the smallest lifetime risk (1 in 4,300).