Namibia Far From Reaching Maternal Mortality Rate Target WINDHOEK, Aug 6 (BERNAMA-NNN-NAMPA) -- Namibia is still far from reaching its Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target of reducing maternal deaths by 2015, a news report has revealed. The 2011 Census Mortality Report issued recently by the Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) has raised concerns that maternal mortality in the country has increased from 225 deaths per 100,000 live births in 1992 to 271 in 2000, and to 449 in 2006 and 2007, respectively. The 2011 census results also confirmed this phenomenon. The maternal mortality ratio stands at 604 deaths per 100,000 live births. If the result is compared to the second Millennium Development Goal (MDG) report for Namibia of 2008, of which the target for 2012 was 337 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births, then Namibia is very far from reaching this target of reducing maternal deaths by 2015, the report warned. Mortality is one of the three factors which determine changes in population size, distribution and structure. High maternal mortality should be high priority, and therefore appropriate interventions are required to address the situation, the report stated. Meanwhile, Namibias infant mortality rate has been declining steadily for the past two decades -- from 67 deaths per 100,000 live births in 1991 to 52 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2001 and 44 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2011. Similar trends have been observed in rural and urban areas, as well as in most of the regions. The infant mortality rate for some regions, particularly for Zambezi Region (Province), increased from 59 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2001 to 74 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2011, while the infant mortality rate for Kavango Region declined slightly from 71 in 2001 to 70 in 2011. -- BERNAMA-NNN-NAMPA
Posted on: Wed, 06 Aug 2014 11:55:36 +0000
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