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Indonesia to provide poor with safer maternal care

Only 5 percent of Indonesia’s 5 million poor pregnant women receive government assistance for deliveries Alisa Tang/IRIN
The Indonesian government announced it would fund deliveries performed by skilled birth attendants for three million poor women in 2011 in a bid to reduce the maternal mortality rate.
 
Health Minister Endang Rahayu Sedyaningsih said many maternal deaths could be attributed to the use of traditional unskilled birth attendants. “We will fund local governments to provide resources and services, such as skilled health professionals, and up-to-standard hospitals and health centres,” she said, opening a conference addressing the Millennium Development Goals.
 
Under the current health system, only 5 percent of Indonesia’s five million poor pregnant women receive government assistance for deliveries, according to the ministry.
 
The nation of 240 million is off-track in meeting its target to reduce the maternal mortality rate to 102 per 100,000 live births by 2015, the Indonesia Maternal Health Assessment reports. The current rate is 228 per 100,000 live births, six times the rate in neighbouring Malaysia.

This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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