Monday, July 24, 2017

Nepal stands atop in South Asia in terms of women coming for health care delivery

Nepal has topped in the entire South Asia region in terms of the number of expectant mothers choosing delivery in health facilities.
According to health secretary Prof Kiran Regmi, around 60 per cent pregnant women have been recorded to have availed safe delivery and maternity services from birthing centres. "The percentage is the highest benchmark among other countries in the South Asian Region."
The maternal mortality rate in Nepal has fallen to 134 per 100,000 pregnant women and new mothers, while the child mortality rate stands at 21 per 1,000 live births.
The ministry is currently implementing an ambitious programme to reduce maternity mortality to 90 and infant mortality rate to nil.
Nepal took significant strides in the mother and child care campaign after the government accorded high priority to these programmes, making sure that many pregnant women benefited from modern delivery facilities and available maternity services.
Nepal – that has been a member of the Global White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood since 2009 – has been providing free services in reproductive health care, including uterine prolapse.
During a four-day global meeting on Safe Motherhood organised by Safe Motherhood Network Federation of Nepal that began here today, participants discussed on the initiatives taken by Nepal to reduce child and maternal mortality rates.
Representatives – from 16 countries including from South Asia – with Global White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood, an international organisation established for safe motherhood, will review the programmes related to safe motherhood run in their respective countries in the meeting.
Inaugurating the meeting, Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba said that the constitution has guaranteed quality health services as a fundamental right. He expressed the belief that it would bring remarkable improvement in access of general people to healthcare services.
Programmes launched by the government have focused on achieving sustainable development goals related to health, he said adding that the health ministry had primarily paid attention to achieve the goals related to safe motherhood. "Rural women in Nepal still have less access to safe motherhood and this problem must be addressed collectively to control maternal deaths and child mortality in the country."
Secretary Regmi, on the occasion, said the ministry was focused on achieving sustainable development goals relating to safe motherhood.
Likewise, Safe Motherhood Network Federation president Arzu Rana Deuba said that Nepal of late witnessed a remarkable progress in the area of safe motherhood, the status of rural women however had not changed much. She also demanded that the government pass a bill relating to safe motherhood.
Safe Motherhood Network Federation vice-president Bishnu Raj Nepal said participating countries and WHO representatives in the meeting would share work experiences related to safe motherhood while preparing a future work strategy.
The SMNF was established in 1996. It has worked on planning and implementing awareness and advocacy programmes related to safe motherhood and proper care of newborn babies.

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