Photo: iStockphotoNew Delhi: One-third of the total deaths during pregnancy and childbirth in 2015 happened in India and Nigeria even as the total number of global maternal deaths has almost halved since 1990, a Lancet report revealed. Worldwide, the annual number of maternal deaths per 100,000 live births fell by 44% between 1990 and 2015, from approximately 385 to 216. The sub-Saharan African region accounted for an estimated 66% (201,000) of global maternal deaths, followed by southern Asia at 22% (66,000 deaths). Basically, only 5% of the world’s countries accounted for over half of maternal deaths. Nigeria with 58,000 deaths accounted for 19% and India at 45,000 deaths, accounted for 15% of the total deaths, according to the report—a series of six papers by an international team of researchers.

Source: Mint September 18, 2016 16:07 UTC