Malawi misses on MDGs
Despite Malawi reducing maternal deaths from 984 to 574 per 100 000 live births, government has missed the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on reducing maternal mortality by at least three times.
The Minister of Health Jean Kalilani said this in Parliament in response to questions from backbenchers on conflicting figures.
She said government is working hard to reduce the figure to the set benchmark which is 155.
Said Kalilani: “We have made good progress in reducing unnecessary deaths for mothers during pregnancy and during child birth.
“However, despite this significant drop, we have missed the Millennium Development Goal [MDG] target of 155 deaths per 100 000 live births by a high margin. Over the same period, we have also improved survival prospects for our children.”
The minister added: “Furthermore, while the prevalence of underweight children aged five years and below was 25 percent in 2000, it was estimated at 16 percent in 2014. However, the prevalence of stunting, a long-term measure of malnutrition, has declined only marginally from 47 percent in 2000 to 42 percent in 2014.”
According to Kalilani, the key interventions for reducing the risk of premature mortality and morbidity have included immunisation of all children under the age of five against vaccine preventable diseases.
She said vaccination coverage has been sustained at very high levels, with approximately 90 percent of all children less than one year old fully immunised.
