Pregnancy is getting safer for women in many parts of the world, with the exception of sub-Saharan Africa, researchers said.
The journal Reproductive Health Matters marked the 20th anniversary of the World Health Organization's Safe Motherhood Initiative with an analysis of data related to the risks of childbirth.
The report found the maternal mortality ratio fell nearly 5.5 percent from 430 to 400 per 100,000 live births between 1990 and 2005.
Maternal deaths fell by more than 20 percent in developed areas of North Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean and the South Pacific, while in sub-Saharan Africa the number of maternal deaths increased between 1990 and 2005, the report said.
Copyright 2007 by United Press International
Related stories:
Population growth puts dent in natural resources
It's a 500-pound gorilla that Robert Criss, Ph.D., professor of earth and planetary sciences in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, sees standing on the speaker's dais at political rallies, debates and campaigns. Its name is population growth.
Scientists find elephant memories may hold key to survival
A recent study by the Wildlife Conservation Society and the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) suggests that old female elephants—and perhaps their memories of distant, life-sustaining sources of food and water—may be the key to survival during the worst of times.
Lost in the supermarket?
Why the 'cheap food revolution' hasn't reached poor countries
Most people don't think twice as they pass spring apples from the southern hemisphere as they enter the supermarket, but they are participating in a cheap food revolution that has swept the industrialized world over the past couple of generations. The supermarket is the last step in a complicated global process that has changed every aspect of how we produce and consume food. In theory, the arrival of supermarkets in a country should bring with it the "cheap food" that we have enjoyed for so many years.
Probing Question: Are water wars in our future?
Schoolkids know that over 70 percent of Earth's surface is washed in water. Yet very little of that abundance — less than two percent — is available for drinking and agriculture. Over the last 50 years, moreover, freshwater use has tripled as global population has doubled, leading to scarcities in many regions of the globe. According to the United Nations, over 1.1 billion of the world's people lack access to a clean water supply.
Honey bee invaders exploit the genetic resources of their predecessors
Like any species that aspires to rule the world, the honey bee, Apis mellifera, invades new territories in repeated assaults. A new study demonstrates that when these honey bees arrive in a place that has already been invaded, the newcomers benefit from the genetic endowment of their predecessors.
Metabolic syndrome linked to cold tolerance
Researchers from the University of Chicago have discovered that many of the genetic variations that have enabled human populations to tolerate colder climates may also affect their susceptibility to metabolic syndrome, a cluster of related abnormalities such as obesity, elevated cholesterol levels, heart disease, and diabetes.
The onchocerciasis parasite showing signs of resistance
Onchocerciasis is an infection caused by Onchocerca volvulus, a parasite nematode worm transmitted to humans by a species of black fly of the Simulium genus whose larvae develop in fast-flowing rivers. Infected subjects suffer not only from severe skin lesions but also eye damage that can lead to irreversible loss of sight, hence the name ‘river blindness’.
Newfound ancient African megadroughts may have driven the evolution of humans and fishes
From 135,000 to 90,000 years ago tropical Africa had megadroughts more extreme and widespread than any previously known for that region, according to new research.