Noman Mosharef
Maternal mortality rate has recently increased in the country. At present, as many as 196 mothers die while giving birth to child in 100000 cases. The number was 194 in 2010. The outcome of “Bangladesh Maternal mortality and healthcare survey 2016 conducted jointly by National Institute of Population Research and Training (NIPORT), International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh and US donor agency USAID was released in a city hotel yesterday.The state minister for health and family planning Jahid Malek among other ministry officials were present at the occasion. According to a joint report titled as “Trends in Maternal Mortality: 1990 to 2015” by UNFPA – United Nations Population Fund, WHO, UNICEF, United Nation Population Division and World Bank in 2015, the incidents of maternal mortality decreased by 70 percent in last 25 years.Maternal mortality is defined as the mother’s death due to pregnancy or childbirth-related complications in six weeks of time. In 2013, the then health minister A F M Rahul Hoque said in the parliament the rate had decreased 40 percent in the last nine years. In 2001, the number of such death was 322 in every 100,000.