KUALA LUMPUR: Maternal deaths could be prevented if attention and full commitment were given to a few key life-saving interventions, said the prime minister’s wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor.
She said they included providing care for mothers and newborns before, during and after childbirth including emergency obstetric care, family planning as well as building better opportunities for the future of more than three billion people under the age of 25.
Speaking at a luncheon in conjunction with the 3rd Women Deliver Global Conference 2013 here yesterday, Rosmah noted that the health of girls would not be improved if they lacked access to information and education as well as skills training and income-generating opportunities.
Rosmah, who is the patron of Women Deliver 2013, stressed that they must be taken out of the vicious cycle of poverty and ill-health.
“We must address the health needs and issues that young people face every day and provide them with age-appropriate information and services,” she said.
Thus, she said, investing in the health and education of girls and women meant investing in a country’s future as it would benefit society when mothers became increasingly more informed and knowledgeable.
Rosmah said between 2000 and 2011, Malaysia managed to successfully reduce maternal mortality ratio from 64 per 100,000 live births to 28 per 100,000 in 2010, one of the lowest maternal mortality to live birth ratios in the region.
“We’re fortunate that Malaysia has accorded priority to women and children in its National Socio-Economic Development Plan since independence,” she said. — Bernama