By Madote,
According to the United Nations Development Progamme (UNDP) report, Eritrea is one of the only four African countries on track to meet the Millennium Development Goal on Maternal Health (MDG 5).
The United Nation’s MDG 5 calls for developing countries to reduce their maternal mortality rate by 75 percent in 2015. In Eritrea’s case, this means reducing its maternal mortality rate from 1,400 deaths per 100,000 births (which was once the highest maternal mortality rate in the world) down to 350 deaths by 2015.
Since winning independence in 1991, the Government of Eritrea, in collaboration with development partners, have taken efficient coordinated programs to drastically reduce this figure to 280 deaths per 100,000 births, which is an impressive 80 percent reduction.
Similarly, in the same period of time, Eritrea has reduced its malaria mortality by 90%, diminished its infant child mortality under five by 63 percent, nearly declined its HIV/AIDs in half to 0.8%, and has nearly doubled its life expectancy to a 66 year average, which leads Sub-Sahara Africa.
As a result of the successful endeavors in the health department, each community in Eritrea now has a fully-trained maternal caregiver, which has been playing a vital role in considerably reducing mortality from giving childbirth among rural communities. Moreover, the UNDP believes an additional funding of US$88 million will be needed over the next four years to maintain a universal coverage for maternal and infant care in Eritrea.
