India and Maternal Mortality Numbers

Hi everyone. For this week’s post I’d like to contribute a few different views on India’s activities directed at meeting the UN Millennium Development Goal of reducing maternal mortality.

http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/india-doing-well-in-reducing-maternal-mortality-unicef-53618

The first report details the recent numbers released by Unicef that shows a 59% drop in maternal mortality rates since 2000 in India. Unicef congratulates India on these accomplishments.

http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2010/09/20/india-maternal-health-gains-disputed

The next article is from Human Rights Watch which reports critics claim that the Indian government is manipulating numbers and reporting filtered information. For instance, critics claim the government only evaluates women who give birth in a health facility and does not measure health and mortality after women leave the facilities and other methods to decrease maternal mortality numbers reported.

Thanks!

Jen Rice