Maternal and child health remains one of the highest priority of the Government of Mongolia as reflected in the four year Government Action Plan, Millennium Development based National Development Strategy and the National Health Sector Strategic Master Plan 2006-2015. The Maternal Mortality Reduction strategy 2010-2020 and the National Reproductive Health Programme 2007-2011 complement the national strategy to achieve the targets set for MDG 5.
Strong political commitment and support from several international and national partners has led to a steady decline in the maternal mortality ratio (MMR) over the past two decades. The MMR was 49 per 100 000 live births in 2008.
Some of the achievements are due to high coverage of antenatal care (87.7%), delivery by skilled birth attendants (99.8%) and provision for referral care through establishment of maternal waiting homes at rural and remote soum health facilities.
Despite the successes, several challenges still remain to fully achieve the targets of the MDG. These are filling the wide gap that still exists in maternal and newborn mortality between urban and rural areas, especially among population living in Western aimags, In some remote aimags the MMR is as high as 213 to 365 per 100 000 live births compared to the national average of around 60 per 100 000 live births..
