ISLAMABAD: In a written reply, the Ministry of National Health Services (NHS) told the Senate that the maternal mortality rate in the country is 276 per 100,000 live births which it said was very high.

The ministry claimed that a number of steps are being taken to reduce this ratio.

The upper house was informed that a Reproductive, Maternal and Neonatal & Child Health (RMNCH) action plan was being prepared to consolidate and accelerate the progress to achieve the millennium development goals (MDGs) by the end of the year.

According to the MDGs set for the years between 2010 and 2015, maternal mortality rates were to be brought down to 140 deaths per 100,000 live births by the end of last year.

In its reply the ministry said that the resuscitation and basic emergency obstetric and neonatal care facilities are being provided at health units which has brought down the number of maternity deaths. Deliveries are now being conducted by community midwives in all healthcare facilities which has significantly reduced mortality rates for mothers and newborns, the written reply said.

Through an RMNCH trust fund, the ministry is collaborating with the provinces and partner agencies for training community midwives and other medical personnel in order to strengthen human resource and service delivery, the ministry said in its reply.

It claimed that the National Maternal, Newborn and Child Health Programme is continuing in the provinces even after devolution and that the program has decreased both infant and maternal mortality rates throughout the country by providing better emergency obstetric and neonatal care services at basic health units.

The ministry also claimed that the National Program for Family Planning and Primary Health Care, with its 96,000 community based lady health workers, has had a substantial impact on the uptake of important primary health services which include a large and positive impact on childhood vaccination rates and lower rates of diarrhoea and pneumonia in children.

The government has adopted a life-cylce approach, the reply said, and recognises the importance of optimal nutrition for women in order to minimise the risks associated with malnutrition. If women have good nutrition throughout their life it will reduce intrauterine growth restriction and stunted growth in children.

Published in Dawn, May 15th, 2016