UK Government aid contributes to dramatic decline in women dying in childbirth in Bangladesh and Nepal
1 Jul 2008
A new report from DFID shows that UK Government investments in improving maternal health in the world’s poorest countries have paid off.
Two per cent of the world’s total development aid would be enough to reduce the number of women dying in childbirth by 75% by 2015. This is one of the headlines in DFID’s Maternal Health Progress Strategy Report 2007(243 kb) tracking the UK Government’s efforts to improve maternal health in the world’s poorest countries.
The Maternal Health Strategy Progress Report 2007 shows that DFID’s spending on projects exclusively tackling maternal and newborn health has increased ten-fold since 2002 to £23.2 million. This is included in DFID’s overall spend on health, which is close to £800 million annually.
With pregnancy and childbirth claiming the lives of over half a million women every year, UK efforts have centred on key areas shown to successfully impact on maternal health in developing countries:
Maternal deaths in Nepal have declined by at least 20% in the past decade, largely due to DFID support to the Government for the training of skilled birth attendants and providing access to maternity services. A DFID-funded scheme providing cash in hand for pregnant women has also allowed 60,000 additional women to give birth in health facilities in the past year.
Read more...
Source: DFID News
The Maternal Health Strategy Progress Report 2007 shows that DFID’s spending on projects exclusively tackling maternal and newborn health has increased ten-fold since 2002 to £23.2 million. This is included in DFID’s overall spend on health, which is close to £800 million annually.
With pregnancy and childbirth claiming the lives of over half a million women every year, UK efforts have centred on key areas shown to successfully impact on maternal health in developing countries:
- Removing economic barriers to health services;
- Increasing the number of skilled birth attendants - doctors and midwives;
- Providing access to family planning and preventing unsafe abortion.
Maternal deaths in Nepal have declined by at least 20% in the past decade, largely due to DFID support to the Government for the training of skilled birth attendants and providing access to maternity services. A DFID-funded scheme providing cash in hand for pregnant women has also allowed 60,000 additional women to give birth in health facilities in the past year.
Read more...
Source: DFID News
