Challenges of achieving and tracking MDG 5

摘要

Worldwide, maternal mortality has decreased substantially since 199O.1"3 However, the reduction rate is far lower than that needed to achieve the fifth Millennium Development Goal (MDG 5) of a 75% reduction between 1990 and 2015- In The Lancet, Shams El Arifeen and colleagues4 present a country case study for Bangladesh, which is one of the few countries poised to achieve the target. The maternal mortality ratio (MMR) decreased from 322 deaths per 100000 livebirths (95% Cl 253-391) in 1998-2001 to 194 deaths per 100000 livebirths (149-238) in 2007-10, amounting to a 5-6% reduction per annum compared with the global figure of 2.6%.