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Maternal mortality drawback to poverty reduction...
2007-11-19 08:43:25
By Jane Mkonya
The increasing mortality during delivery has been singled out as one of the major drawbacks of National Strategy for Growth and Reduction of Poverty (NSGRP).
Speaking to journalists over the weekend when introducing the poverty reduction policies, Planning, Economic and Empowerment minister Juma Ngasongwa said that 578 out of every 100,000 pregnant women die during delivery.
`In 2005, the number was below the current one, where 529 out of every 100,000 expectant mothers died.
The number has now increased, which means there is little change if any, despite efforts,` he said.
NSGRP is based on three major clusters - economic growth and poverty alleviation, better life and social welfare, good governance and accountability.
He said the cluster on better life and social welfare has fallen short of expectations for its failure to alleviate maternal deaths. Apart from maternal deaths, deficiency of health experts was cited as another challenge.
Ngasongwa said that the main objective is to give development stakeholders opportunities to discuss, exchange skills and ideas on the implementation status and process in the war against poverty.
`It is also another opportunity to get contributions and opinions from stakeholders, which will be used in improving goals, and as inputs in the government budget next year,` he said.
The theme of the poverty week was `Creativity and Work Effort are the Pillars in the War against Poverty`.
The celebrations will take place for four days beginning today.
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