Johannesburg - The Countdown to 2015: Maternal, Newborn and
Child Survival report released Wednesday shows most developing
countries making little progress in reducing maternal and child
deaths.
Of 68 'priority' countries, only 16 are on track to reach the
United Nations Millennium Development Goal on reducing the mortality
of children under five by two-thirds by 2015 compared to 1990.
They are: Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, China, Egypt, Eritrea,
Guatemala, Haiti, Indonesia, Lao People's Democratic Republic,
Mexico, Morocco, Nepal, Peru, the Philippines and Turkmenistan.
Peru, where 25 out of 1,000 children died before reaching the age
of five in 2006, compared to 78 out of 1,000 in 1990, had made the
most progress towards the goal.
The 12 worst performers - countries where child mortality had
increased since 1990 - were: Botswana, Cameroon, Central African
Republic, Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Kenya, Lesotho, South
Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Here, Botswana, where 124 out of 1,000 children died before their
fifth birthday, compared with 58 in 1990, had made the least
progress.
The three 'priority' countries with the lowest maternal mortality
rates were China, with 45 deaths per 100,000 live births, followed by
Mexico and Azerbaijan.
The countries with the highest maternal mortality rate were all
countries with recent history of armed conflict.
Sierra Leone bottomed the table in this category, with 2,100
deaths per 100,000 live births. Afghanistan and Niger tied for
second-most deadly, with 1,800 women out of every 100,000 dying
during childbirth.
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