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Maternal Health

Answer

DFID’s approach to improving maternal health is outlined in our 2004 strategy document ““Reducing maternal deaths: evidence and action: First Progress Report””. This sets out four priority areas for supporting better maternal health; specifically advocacy, scaling-up and improving services, helping remove barriers to access, and research to develop better technologies and policies.We have recently reviewed our performance; copies of our Progress Report have been deposited in the Libraries of the House. The report notes that DFID spending on reducing maternal mortality (together with reproductive health services) has increased by 41.3 per cent. over the past three years, and we are committed to continuing to increase our support to maternal health.But we still need to see more governments give greater priority to this issue. Some progress has been made in Asia, for example in Nepal, China, Vietnam and Indonesia. In many parts of Africa, however, weak health services, conflict and HIV have combined to constrain overall progress. Improving this situation will require long term and sustained help.The Progress Report makes several recommendations, one of which is to use maternal mortality as an indicator through which to track progress in health systems strengthening. Functioning health systems are essential in seeing improvements in maternal health, and we will indeed wish to monitor maternal health outcomes as we scale-up our support to basis health services.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

68165; 446 c1189W

Session

2005-06

Related items

Deposited Paper DEP 04/1543
Thursday, 9 September 2004
Deposited papers
House of Lords
House of Commons

Deposited Paper HINF 2006/1080
Wednesday, 17 May 2006
Deposited papers

Maternal Health
Thursday, 18 May 2006
Written questions
House of Commons

Subjects

Developing countries Maternity services

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk