[ti:Study Finds Drop in Deaths of Mothers in Developing World]
[ar:Steve Ember]
[al:Health Report]
[by:www.21voa.com]
[00:00.00]This is the VOA Special English 
[00:03.02]Health Report.
[00:04.32]A new study says fewer women 
[00:07.06]in developing nations 
[00:09.18]are dying of pregnancy-related causes. 
[00:12.60]Researchers estimated how many mothers 
[00:16.39]died during or soon after childbirth 
[00:20.37]in one hundred eighty-one countries. 
[00:23.67]They found a drop of more than 
[00:26.16]thirty-five percent worldwide 
[00:28.96]in the past thirty years.
[00:31.76]By their count, the number fell 
[00:34.43]from more than a half-million 
[00:36.92]in nineteen eighty to about 
[00:39.40]three hundred forty-three thousand 
[00:41.83]in two thousand eight.
[00:44.07]That year, about two hundred fifty 
[00:47.31]mothers died for every one hundred 
[00:50.17]thousand live births worldwide.
[00:52.97]The researchers say 
[00:55.45]the maternal death rate has been falling 
[00:58.75]almost one and a half percent a year
[01:01.80]since nineteen ninety. 
[01:04.04]Earlier reports suggested little change
[01:07.71]between nineteen eighty 
[01:09.64]and nineteen ninety, 
[01:11.69]but the new study disputes that.
[01:14.55]The researchers used government records,
[01:17.97]medical records, surveys
[01:20.65]and other information. 
[01:22.20]They developed new methods 
[01:25.00]to get what they say are the best 
[01:27.43]estimates yet for almost every country.
[01:31.47]They say the progress 
[01:33.34]is a result of greater efforts 
[01:35.95]to reduce maternal deaths.
[01:38.37]Christopher Murray at the University 
[01:41.61]of Washington's Institute 
[01:43.72]for Health Metrics and Evaluation 
[01:46.27]in Seattle led the study. 
[01:48.76]He says more education of women 
[01:52.31]in developing countries has helped 
[01:55.48]lower maternal death rates. 
[01:58.15]More of them are giving birth in hospitals.
[02:01.89]Doctor Murray says lower 
[02:04.62]fertility rates around the world, 
[02:07.36]combined with higher earnings, 
[02:09.91]are also reducing deaths.
[02:12.65]The nations found to have the 
[02:15.38]biggest reductions were Egypt,
[02:18.00]Ecuador and Bolivia. 
[02:20.80]The researchers say
[02:22.66]China also had a sharp drop.
[02:25.90]But since nineteen ninety 
[02:28.63]maternal death rates have risen 
[02:31.37]in some countries. 
[02:33.05]Zimbabwe, for example, 
[02:35.23]had a five and one-half percent 
[02:37.78]increase per year. 
[02:39.52]Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, Nigeria, 
[02:44.43]the Democratic Republic of Congo 
[02:47.17]and Ethiopia also had increases.
[02:51.83]H.I.V. has slowed the progress 
[02:55.19]in reducing maternal deaths. 
[03:00.00]The study linked almost 
[03:02.61]one in every five such deaths
[03:05.60]in two thousand eight 
[03:07.65]to the virus that causes AIDS.
[03:10.32]The researchers say 
[03:12.19]maternal deaths rates have also 
[03:14.24]increased in some wealthy countries. 
[03:17.04]They found the number 
[03:18.85]in the United States rose 
[03:21.21]almost forty-two percent
[03:24.13]since nineteen ninety. 
[03:26.06]Countries such as Canada and Norway 
[03:29.67]also had increases. 
[03:32.16]Doctor Murray says at least 
[03:34.96]part of the increase is likely
[03:37.45]the result of better record keeping.
[03:40.49]The study also included 
[03:43.11]the University of Queensland 
[03:45.41]in Australia. 
[03:47.27]The report is in the Lancet.
[03:50.13]And that's the VOA Special English 
[03:53.61]Health Report. I'm Steve Ember.