Minister of Defence Mohamed Nazim has said that maternal death during labour is less in Maldives compared to other countries in the region.
Minister Nazim made this remark at the ceremony held at Girifushi to train midwifes. He said that there were only 13 deaths in 2012 and in this year no maternal deaths have been recorded so far.
The minister said that the role of the midwives are very important in reducing this number. He said that this is a great success achieved by Maldives in a short period of time however he said that much have to be done to maintain this success.
Infant mortality has been reduced from 120 per thousand live births in 1978 to just 12 in 2005, while maternal mortality has been reduced from around 500 per hundred thousand live births in 1990 to just 78 in 2003.
On both counts the Maldives is well on course to meet the Millennium Development Goals of “reducing by two-thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality rate” and “reducing by three quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the maternal mortality rate”.
Regarding infant mortality, the UN noted in its MDG Country Report for the Maldives in 2005 that “during the last 10 years the Maldives has achieved commendable progress in reducing child mortality relative to other least developed countries. It is highly likely that the Maldives will achieve the MDG target”. Regarding maternal mortality, the MDG report stated that “the Maldives appears to have already achieved the MDG target 6 to reduce maternal mortality. The policies which contributed to this achievement include: providing easy access to services for all groups of people; focusing on awareness creation on high-risk pregnancies; antenatal and postnatal care; all pregnant women to receive minimum of three antenatal check-ups; and all deliveries to be conducted by trained personnel”.
Maternal death is less in Maldives compared to other countries in the region- Nazim
