The mortality rates of pregnant women in developing countries is still on the rise, a United Nations report issued on Friday said. More than half a million women die in pregnancy or childbirth each year, a little change from 20 years ago, the report said.
And 20 million unsafe abortions, a major factor in maternal deaths and illness, are done annually. The number of deaths is being reduced too slowly to achieve United Nations-set goals set by the Millennium Development Goals.
If no action is taken, a key global target of 75 percent reduction in maternal deaths by 2015 will not be met, the health agency has warned.
According to the report compiled by the World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and Population Fund (UNFPA), and the World Bank, 536,000 women died of maternal causes in 2005 compared to 576,000 in 1990.
Ninety-nine percent of the deaths occurred in developing countries; it said adding that several causes are responsible for deaths including poverty, hunger and disease.
AFP reports that Millennium Development Goal number five calls for the maternal mortality ratio, the number of maternal deaths per 100,000 live births, to be cut by 5.5 percent a year until 2015.
The maternal mortality rate was disproportionately high in developing nations, where there were "450 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births. This is in great contrast to nine in developed regions," the report said.
"Slightly more than one half of the maternal deaths (270,000) occurred in the sub-Saharan Africa region, followed by South Asia (188,000). Together, these two regions accounted for 86 per cent of the world's maternal deaths in 2005," it said.
According to WHO reports, the number of women dying in childbirth varies dramatically worldwide from one in eight in Afghanistan and Sierra Leone to one in 47,000 in Ireland.
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