The maternal mortality rate of the country has improved to 186 per 100,000 people, up from 276 over a decade ago as the government works to improve access to healthcare services.
This was disclosed by the Parliamentary Secretary for Health Dr Nausheen Hamid on Tuesday during a webinar on the key findings of the Pakistan Maternal Mortality Survey (PMMS). The webinar had been organised by the National Institute of Population Studies (NIPS) which had conducted the survey.
Dr Hamid said that improving the access of people, particularly women and other vulnerable segments, to health facilities was an important priority of the government.
About the survey, she said that its objective was to assess progress on maternal health indicators and identify gaps to help policymakers and organizations to improve health facilities for the population.
Noting that this was the first survey in this field over the past decade, it had provided good insight into maternal complications and morbidities, age-specific mortality rates by region and gender.
Even though the MMR had improved considerably, Dr Hamid said that concerted efforts will be required to bring it down to the target of less than 70 by 2030, as prescribed in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Dilating on the report, she said that the mortality ratio is the lowest amongst women between 20 to 24-years-of-age. But the ration more than doubles for older women.
Similarly, in rural areas, the mortality ratio is 26% higher compared to that in urban areas. A high number of maternal deaths in some areas reflects inequalities in access to quality of health services.
“We will need to focus on such disparities to improve the quality of maternal health,” she said, adding that a six-fold increase in the population since independence poses challenges of socio-economic development and rapid urbanization process. “The size of the population and the urbanization process place pressure not only on health facilities but also on other development initiatives. But let me assure you that the government is determined to deal with these challenges by prioritizing and ensuring a fair distribution of resources,” she said.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 19th, 2020.
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