Maternity mortality rates declining

JAKARTA (JP): Maternity mortality rates have declined to 295 per 100,000 births, Minister of Health Faried Anfasa Moeloek said on Friday.

"This achievement is closely tied to the success of the family planning program and the midwife profession," the minister said when opening the 12th congress of the Indonesian Midwives Association in Sanur, Bali.

Antara quoted him as saying that midwives had played a significant role in handling deliveries skillfully across the country, particularly in remote areas.

In his 1998 accountability speech to the People's Consultative Assembly former president Soeharto said maternity mortality rates had declined from 425 per 100,000 births in 1993 to 390 per 100,000 births in 1994.

In the past few years the government has also trained traditional midwives and assigned professional midwives to rural areas in an attempt to bring down maternity mortality rates.

The minister said the country had 65,000 midwives and that the government was still trying to increase the quality and access of their services.

The experience of many countries, he said, showed a strong correlation between maternity mortality rates and the range of medical services related to deliveries.

"The high maternity mortality rate is a tragedy which should be avoided by increasing midwifery services to pregnant women and women during delivery," said Farid, a gynecologist.

Experts have blamed lack of access to regular examinations for pregnant women, late reports of complications and poor nutrition of expecting mothers as reasons for maternal mortality.

The congress attended by 889 people from across the country also featured presentations on ways to improve midwifery services. (anr)