The World Health Organization (WHO) today stressed that acceptable progress to reduce maternal mortality will not be realized until governments make a full political commitment to lower maternal deaths.

About 529 000 women in the world die each year from pregnancy-related causes - and almost half of these deaths occur in the Western Pacific and South-East Asia Regions.

While some countries have implemented a national plan of action to lower maternal deaths, little real progress has been made in the past 10 years in the poor areas of priority countries.

In the Millennium Summit Declaration of 2000, 149 Heads of State vowed to reduce maternal mortality by three quarters between 1990 and 2015.

WHO says that for this target to be met, governments need to:

• display more political commitment to the cause;
  
• increase deliveries by skilled birth attendants;
  
• strengthen referral system and improve the quality of maternal care services;
  
• promote more partnerships (i.e. between nongovernmental organizations, other United Nations agencies)
  
• promote individual, family and community participation

A negative factor in efforts to reduce maternal mortality rates, says WHO, is the absence of full political commitment to plan and implement the right strategy at the right time. Other factors include the lack of skilled attendants at birth, poor or inadequate health services for mothers and newborns, lack of quality post-natal care, and inappropriate community and family practices (i.e. beliefs and norms that are counterproductive to health).

To achieve the Millennium Development Goal and generate greater political commitment, a bi-regional workshop on the progress of maternal mortality reduction is to be held at WHO's Western Pacific Regional Offices in Manila from 27 to 30 October. The gathering will draw up a five-year plan (2005-2010) to make pregnancy safer. Organized by the WHO South-East Asia and Western Pacific Regions and co-sponsored by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNPF), the workshop will be attended by 44 participants from 19 countries from the South-East Asia and Western Pacific Regions and about 30 representatives of partner agencies such as UNICEF, UNPF, Asian Development Bank, Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID), Fiji School of Medicine, Health Unlimited, International Confederation of Midwives, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), and United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Magnitude of the Problem
Of the 50 000 maternal deaths every year in the Western Pacific Region, more than 40% occur in Cambodia, the Lao People's Democratic Republic, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines and Viet Nam.

More than one million infants die before their first birthday and more than 300 000 babies die at birth in the Western Pacific Region.

Maternal anaemia typically affects between 50% and 75% of women in poor countries, with serious consequences for the health and survival of both mothers and infants.

17%-24% of the population in the Western Pacific Region is in the 10-19 years age group. Maternal mortality among girls under 18 years is two to five times higher than that of women in their 20s.

Eight out of eleven South-East Asian countries have very high maternal mortality ratios, varying from 170 to 800 per 100 000 live births. India has the highest estimated number of maternal deaths per year at 136 000.

In the South-East Asian Region, the child-bearing rate among adolescents aged 15 to 19 years ranges from 146 live births per 1000 women in Bangladesh to 26 per 1000 in the Republic of Korea.