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Info Service on Health Issues (December 06/04)<o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
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December 2006<o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 14.4pt"><B><SPAN
lang=EN-GB>Reducing maternal mortality stymied by lack of funds and absence of
national laws<o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 14.4pt"><B><SPAN
lang=EN-GB><o:p></o:p></SPAN></B> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 14.4pt"><B><SPAN
lang=EN-GB><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 14.4pt"><B><SPAN
lang=EN-GB>Among all reproductive health indicators, the least progress has been
made in reducing maternal mortality. This means that the fifth Millennium
Development Goal to reduce by three quarters the maternal mortality ratio, given
that over half a million women die every year during pregnancy or childbirth –
will not be reached in many countries.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 14.4pt"><B><SPAN
lang=EN-GB><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 14.4pt"><B><SPAN
lang=EN-GB>Lack of funds and the slow progress to implement laws that protect
maternal healthcare and reproductive health rights are undermining this
goal.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 14.4pt"><B><SPAN
lang=EN-GB><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 14.4pt"><B><SPAN
lang=EN-GB>The report below is reproduced </SPAN></B><B><SPAN
style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US">with the permission of</SPAN></B><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN lang=EN-GB style="COLOR: black">
South-North Development Monitor (SUNS) # 6149, </SPAN><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">27 November 2006</SPAN><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="COLOR: black">.</SPAN><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 14.4pt"><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN lang=EN-GB style="COLOR: black">With
best wishes<o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 14.4pt"><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="COLOR: black">Evelyne Hong<o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
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style="COLOR: black">TWN<o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><B><SPAN
style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><B><SPAN lang=EN-GB>Development:
Maternal mortality goals hit by funds crunch</SPAN></B><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">By Marwaan Macan-Markar, IPS, <st1:City
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Bangkok</st1:place></st1:City>, 23 November
2006<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P><SPAN style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US"><FONT
face=Arial size=2></FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US"></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US"> </DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><BR></SPAN><SPAN lang=EN-GB>A
scarcity of funds and a failure to translate national laws into action are
undermining hopes of the world meeting a key development goal in 2015 that aims
to help women, says a ranking UN official.<BR><BR>The fifth Millennium
Development Goal (MDG) ''will not be reached in many countries because of a lack
of implementation of national laws and a lack of resources to fund programmes
the laws call for,'' Thoraya Obaid, head of the United Nations Population Fund
(UNFPA), said in an IPS interview.<BR><BR>This goal - to reduce by
three-quarters the maternal mortality ratio, given the estimates that over half
a million women die every year during pregnancy or childbirth - is one of eight
targets that the world's nations pledged to meet at a UN summit in
2000.<BR><BR>The other goals, set with the 2015 deadline in mind, include
eradicating poverty by halving the number of people living on less than one US
dollar a day, eliminating gender disparities, reducing child mortality by
two-thirds and halting the spread of killer diseases, like HIV/AIDS.<BR><BR>As
significant to the looming failure of the fifth MDG was the slow progress among
developing countries to implement laws that guarantee maternal health care and
reproductive health rights, said Obaid, on the sidelines of a conference here on
population and development goals attended by 180 parliamentarians from 103
countries.<BR><BR>''If there were laws, we can hold governments accountable. But
if there were no laws, you cannot hold them to anything.''<BR><BR>The findings
of a global survey released during the meeting, which ran from November 20-22,
revealed that 250 laws addressing concerns such as gender-based violence,
empowerment of women and support for reproductive health had been passed in 77
countries, a figure well below half the number of nations at the UN -
192.<BR><BR>Obaid also faulted the developed nations for failing to meet their
share of the commitment made at a major population conference in the mid-1990s
to fund sexual and reproductive health programmes in the developing world
through their overseas development aid (ODA) programmes.<BR><BR>''Within ODA,
the commitment for sexual reproductive health from the donors' side has not
reached the one-third level that was supposed to be met,'' she said.<BR><BR>Such
limited funding of maternal health care programmes was not lost on the
participants at the <st1:City w:st="on">Bangkok</st1:City> event, the 2006
International Parliamentarians' Conference, the third such global event since
2002, to review the progress since the 1994 International Conference of
Population and Development (ICPD), held in <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Cairo</st1:place></st1:City>.<BR><BR>''Funding for family planning,
the first line of defence against maternal mortality, has dropped from 55% of
total population funding in 1995 to 9% today,'' noted the 'Bangkok Statement of
Commitment,' released at the end of the conference. ''And funds for reproductive
health commodities remain in short supply.''<BR><BR>One reason behind that,
participants at the conference conceded, was the shift in funding to deal with
the killer disease HIV/AIDS over the past decade. ''Funds for the treatment of
AIDS has grown exponentially, while funds for its prevention remain scarce,''
adds the final declaration.<BR><BR>''As a result, statistics on maternal
mortality and morbidity remain virtually unchanged in some regions of the world,
while statistics on HIV and AIDS reflect only slow change.''<BR><BR>''No one
should die as a result of sex, denial of accurate information or the lack of a
condom, or a single birthing kit,'' Gill Greer, director-general of the
International Planned Parenthood Federation, said in her keynote speech to the
conference, which shed light on the alarming death rates due to inadequate
maternal health care, unsafe abortion and the absence of HIV prevention
services.<BR><BR>''In <st1:country-region w:st="on">Niger</st1:country-region>,
the lifetime risk of dying from complications in pregnancy or childbirth is one
in seven, in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Sweden</st1:place></st1:country-region>, one in 29,800,'' she added.
''However, we do not know the actual survival status of some 36 million women
who give birth each year in countries which do not officially count maternal
deaths.''<BR><BR>World Bank estimates show that 74% of maternal deaths could be
prevented if ''all women had access to interventions to address complications of
pregnancy and childbirth,'' she revealed. ''Yet some 200 million women a year
are not accessing the contraception they desire or need in order to space or
prevent pregnancies.''<BR><BR>The countries in the Asia-Pacific region offer a
window into this problem, noted a publication released this week by the Economic
and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), a regional UN-body based
in <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Bangkok</st1:place></st1:City>.<BR><BR>''Among all reproductive health
indicators, perhaps the least progress has been made in reducing levels of
maternal mortality,'' writes Philip Guest in the 'Asia-Pacific Population
Journal.'<BR><BR>According to World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates in 2004,
there were close to 253,000 maternal deaths a year across Asia, of which
<st1:place w:st="on">South-central Asia</st1:place> had the highest rates,
207,000 annual deaths.<BR><BR>''A significant contributor to maternal mortality
is unsafe abortion,'' adds Guest of the Population Council, an international
public health non-governmental group.<BR><BR>''Of the total estimated number of
unsafe abortions (10.5 million in Asia in 2000), over seven million occurred in
<st1:place w:st="on">South-central Asia</st1:place>.''<BR><BR>As a key Thai
participant at the conference admitted, getting governments interested in
population and maternal health issues are not as easy as seeking political
support for more visible development initiatives.<BR><BR>''This issue is
difficult to convince governments, unlike telling them about the need to build a
road,'' says Malinee Sukavejworakit, secretary-general of the Asian Forum of
Parliamentarians on Population and Development, a Bangkok-based body lobbying
the region's legislatures on development issues.<BR><BR>And even after
governments agree to accept the challenge of reducing maternal mortality in
their countries, no universal model will provide a solution, adds Yasuo Fukuda,
a Japanese parliamentarian and a leading figure in this campaign.<BR><BR>''The
solutions have to be diverse, taking into consideration the different needs of
every country,'' he said. ''But we have to overcome two common obstacles -
legislative action and getting the budget to implement the
actions.''</SPAN><B><SPAN
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