-The United Nations   Rates of maternal deaths are down, according to United Nations figures released today, but pre-existing medical conditions heighten the risk of death for pregnant women and require continued investment in quality care during pregnancy and childbirth. An estimated 289,000 women died in 2013 from complications in pregnancy and childbirth, down from 523,000 in 1990, according to the UN World Health Organization's (WHO) Trends in maternal mortality estimates 1990 to...

-Down to Earth   All safe motherhood programmes of the government are focused on institutional deliveries, but health centres are in disarray. Experts suggest ways to reduce deaths during delivery Lal Mohan, a daily wage labourer, has no clue what took his wife's life. Sarita Devi, 25, was expecting her third child, and was on way to a good hospital at Bhagalpur district in Bihar. "She was normal all through the nine months...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Be it the urinal which saves 1,51,000 litres of water every year and draws out of the excrement phosphorus - a mineral which India imports - or the Rs 120 cholesterol test which otherwise costs Rs 5,800, or even the low-cost cellphone-size hemoglobin meter that must surely be a boon to a country in which an overwhelming proportion of maternal deaths result from malnutrition-triggered anemia,...

-Down to Earth   Study by non-profit in two blocks in Bihar's Patna district says delay in decision-making and reaching healthcare centres caused maximum maternal deaths A study of maternal deaths in two blocks of Patna district in Bihar says access to free ambulance service would help to reduce such deaths. A majority of dalit and muslim women die during transit because of absence of free ambulance service, says the study by the...

-Live Mint India Philanthropy Report 2014 by Bain and Dasra says lack of funds will lead to more deaths of children Mumbai: India's child mortality rate may worsen despite the government's efforts to lower it because of a dearth of funding, according to the India Philanthropy Report 2014 by business consulting company Bain and Co. and Dasra, a philanthropic foundation, to be released on Friday. The lack of a comprehensive ecosystem of...