Development Cooperation Handbook/Goal 5: Improve maternal health

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Goal 5: Improve maternal health

Each year, hundreds of thousands of women die of childbirth in developing regions. Women dying of childbirth in the poorest countries is 200 times higher than those dying in developed countries.

The MDG 5 aims at reducing maternal mortality rates through greater access to reproductive health care, reducing adolescent pregnancies and promoting the use of contraceptives.

The target set for this goal was to reduce annual maternal mortality by 75%. But due to insufficient funds for actions taken to achieve this goal, the current decline in the annual mortality rates is only around 31%.

The inability of some governments to provide free basic medical services not only impacts the health and mortality of its citizens but also their wealth since they have to spend much more on health.

MDG 5 - Target

Target: Reduce by three quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the Maternal maternal ratio

Maternal mortality ratio
Proportion of births attended by skilled health personnel

Hard Facts

More than half a million women die every year of complications during pregnancy or childbirth, 99% among these are in developing countries;
Every year, more than 1 million children are left motherless;
In sub-Saharan Africa, a woman’s maternal mortality risk is 1 in 22, as compared to 1 in 7,300 in developed regions;
Percentage births attended by skilled health workers has increased from 53% in 1990 to 63% in 2008; While in Northern Africa, 74% women access these services, only 63% access in South-Eastern Asia;
Official development assistance (ODA) for family planning has declined sharply from 8.2% in 2000 to 3.2% in 2008