Washington, June 13 (ANI): Since 1990, annual maternal deaths have declined by almost one half and the deaths of young children have declined from 12 million to 7.6 million in 2010, according to a new report.
Some of the world's poorest countries have achieved spectacular progress in reducing child deaths.
Rates of child mortality in many African countries have been dropping twice as fast in recent years as during the 1990s. In Botswana, Egypt, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Rwanda and the United Republic of Tanzania, the rate of decline was on average 5 percent or more a year between 2000 and 2010.
Similar progress has been seen in reducing maternal deaths, although in fewer developing countries - Equatorial Guinea, Nepal, and Vietnam have each cut maternal deaths by 75 percent.
However, all the news is not good as every two minutes, somewhere in the world, a woman dies from complications of pregnancy and her newborn baby's chances of survival are very poor. For every woman who dies, an additional 20-30 suffer significant and sometimes lifelong problems, as a result of their pregnancy.n these same two minutes nearly 30 young children die of disease and illness that could have been prevented or effectively treated.
Many countries, especially in Africa and South Asia, are not making progress.
Of the 75 countries with the highest burden of maternal and child mortality, 25 have made insufficient or no progress in reducing maternal deaths and 13 show no progress in reducing the number of young children who die.
"Global efforts to save the lives of women, newborn babies and young children are not moving fast enough," Mickey Chopra, chief health officer of United Nation's Children's Fund (UNICEF) and co-chair of the Countdown to 2015 initiative, said.
"Some countries are showing us what success looks like, but many other countries still have to learn the lessons of those successes," he said.
Progress on maternal, newborn and child health, in the 75 highest-burden countries, most in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, where more than 95 percent of all maternal and child deaths occur, has been laid out in a new 220-page report, Building a Future for Women and Children, which is published by the Countdown to 2015 initiative.
"The Countdown report shows the who, what, where - and most importantly the why - of maternal, newborn, and child survival," Zulfiqar Bhutta, author of the report from Aga Khan University, Pakistan, said.
"It offers a clear, consistent report card that countries, advocates, and donors can use to hold each other - and themselves - accountable for real, measurable progress," Bhutta said.
The report assesses the progress that the 75 highest-burden countries are making towards achieving UN Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5 (MDGs). These MDGs call for reducing maternal deaths by three-quarters and the deaths of children under 5 by two-thirds, both by 2015 compared to 1990 levels.
"This is a race against time.
"The pace has picked up, but countries need to make real change happen in the next three years if the world is going to keep its promise to millions of newborns, children, and women," Dr. Bhutta said.
Countdown to 2015 reports were first published in 2005 to track the progress in the highest-burden countries, to identify knowledge gaps, and to promote accountability at global and national levels for improving maternal and child survival.
Since then, massive global attention and resources have been focused on Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5.
In 2010, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon launched a Global Strategy for Women's and Children's Health, an effort that has generated 40 billion dollars in commitments to meet key goals supporting women's and children's health.
These goals include more trained midwives, greater access to contraceptives and skilled delivery care, better nutrition, prevention of infectious diseases and stronger community education.
Notably, 44 of the world's poorest countries - among them Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Burundi, and Nepal - have now joined the Every Woman, Every Child effort, which takes forward the Global Strategy for Women's and Children's Health.
This brings the total number of partners in this joint effort to 220, with low-income countries committing nearly 11 billion dollars of their own limited resources.
The Countdown reports help to hold governments and donors accountable for fulfilling their commitments to the Global Strategy, and it will be a key input to the first report to the Secretary General in September 2012 from the independent Expert Review Group, set up following the launch of the report of the Commission on Information and Accountability for Women's and Children's Health, 'Keeping Promises, Measuring Results'.
"A commitment that doesn't translate into concrete programs and services is only an empty promise," Ann Starrs, an author of the report said.
"By objectively measuring progress and identifying gaps, Countdown to 2015 is a critical tool to help civil society advocates make sure that their governments deliver on the commitments they've made to women and children," she said.
The release of the Countdown 2012 Report coincides with a two-day forum to chart a course toward the end of preventable child deaths, taking place June 14-15 in Washington, DC.
The governments of the United States, India, and Ethiopia, in collaboration with UNICEF, will convene this Child Survival Call to Action. (ANI)
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