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'Death of women during childbirth highest in India'
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December 03, 2007 19:20 IST

More women die every year in India during childbirth or pregnancy than any other country in the world, a United Nations expert has said, warning that unless efforts to reduce maternal mortality are accelerated, it will not be able to meet the targets under Millennium Development Goals.

"Twenty per cent of the world's maternal deaths occur in India ... 100,000 die yearly in India during childbirth or pregnancy, more than in any other country in the world," Paul Hunt, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to the Highest Attainable Standard of Health, told reporters.

The independent expert, who reports to the UN Human Rights Council and General Assembly, is on a mission to India during which he visited Rajasthan and Maharashtra and interacted with government officials here and in the two states, focusing on the issue of maternal mortality.

Noting that in India, more than 300 maternal deaths occur for every 100,000 live births, which is six times worse than China's, Hunt said, "for a middle-income country of its stature, the rate of maternal deaths in India is shocking".

Although the rate remains alarming, it is declining, Hunt said, but added that "at the present rate, neither India, nor any of its states, will reach their maternal mortality targets for 2015 arising from the MDGs".

Unless there is significant shift in policies and programmes and a real acceleration in efforts to reduce maternal mortality, meeting the targets would be difficult, Hunt, who will submit a report on his mission to the Human Rights Council next year, said.
 


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