Reports | India’s condition is worst in this matter: UN report

Representational Image Cape Town: 60 per cent of the world’s deaths of women during childbirth, stillbirth and death of newborns have been found in 10 countries and India is the worst in this list. This information has been given in a report released by the United Nations. The report also states that India also tops the list of 10 countries that account for 51 per cent of global infant births. The data, published in a report by the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), was released on Tuesday during the ‘International Maternal Newborn Health Conference’ (IMNHC 2023). According to these figures, in 2020-2021, two lakh 90 thousand women died during childbirth, 19 lakh stillborn babies were born and 23 lakh newborns died, that is, a total of 45 lakh deaths occurred globally, out of which India The death toll stood at 7,88,000. The report said that 17 per cent of the babies born worldwide during this period were born in India and this may also account for the high number of deaths. According to the report, India is followed by Nigeria, Pakistan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Bangladesh and China in the list of maternal deaths, stillbirths and neonatal deaths. Sub-Saharan Africa and Central and Southern Asia are the regions worst hit in terms of such deaths, but the pace of each country’s effort to meet the global 2030 targets varies. According to the first-ever joint ‘Each Newborn Action Plan’ (ENAP) and ‘Ending Preventable Maternal Mortality (EPMM)’ report, reducing deaths of pregnant women, mothers and infants Global progress has stagnated for eight years due to declining investment in maternal and newborn health. ALSO READ Dr. Anshu Banerjee, Director, Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health, WHO, said, “Pregnant women and newborns are dying at high rates around the world, which is unacceptable and the Covid pandemic has forced them to have created obstacles in the direction of providing essential health services. “We have to do things differently to see different results. Investment in primary health care has to be increased because doing so will increase the chances of health and survival for every woman and child.” (agency)