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297 women in Pakistan die each year giving birth

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s maternal mortality rate (MMR) is 297 deaths per 100,000 live births, which is one of six countries contributing to half of all maternal deaths worldwide.

In effort to decrease the high mortality rates the government of Pakistan created a new cadre of skilled birth attendants and community-based midwives (CMW), said participants at a seminar held on Friday.

The University of Alberta, Canada, the Punjab Maternal, Neonatal and Child Health Programme and the Real Medicine Foundation jointly conducted the seminar and shared the findings of a research study titled “Are Community Midwives Addressing the Inequities in Access to Skilled Birth Attendance in Punjab, Pakistan?”

Senator Begum Najma Hameed said maternal health was of utmost importance for the government. Research Principal Investigator and University of Alberta Associate Professor Dr Zubia Mumtaz gave a detailed presentation on the subject. She said the present study was aimed at exploring whether the CMWs were achieving the objective of improving access to the full scope of skilled maternity care for poor, socially excluded women in Pakistan.

Daily Times