Today's Headlines

A new report from the United Nations Development Fund for Women declared that more than half a million women all over the world every year die during pregnancy or childbirth. Over 90% of these deaths occur in developing countries.

The report laid out eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for positive changes for women world wide. According to the report, MDG 5 to improve maternal health is "the most off-track off all the MDG's."

The report states that maternal deaths between 1990 and 2005 has had a decrease of less than 7 per cent. This is a decrease in the maternal mortality ratio from 430 deaths per 100,000 live births in 1990 to 400 in 2005.

The World Health Organisation estimates that this rate falls for short of the 5.5 percent annual reduction in maternal deaths required to achieve the global target.

Sub-Saharan Africa experienced the largest increase in the number of maternal deaths from 212,000 in 1990 to 270,000 in 2005. But they also experienced a large increase in the number of live births. From 23 million in 1990 to 30 million in 2005.

The report points out that women who die during pregnancy did not have a choice for their prenatal care and other health services. Some of them lacked the financial resources or were not educated on the importance of prenatal care.

The report also states that these deaths could be prevented if more women are educated on how to prevent unplanned pregnancies. I believe that our young people world wide need to be educated more on abstinence. Although, the report which was probably put together by liberal feminists, states that these women should have better access to contraception.





Source: United Nations Development Fund for Women

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