High Infant and Maternal Mortality Rate and Health Services: A Comparative Study between Far Western and Central Development Regions of Nepal

Abstract

Safe Motherhood Conference convened in Kenya in 1987 put light on the global maternal mortality rates and its dominant presence in the developing countries securing an agreement to establish Safe Motherhood initiatives. This conference set the goal of reducing maternal mortality by 50% until the year 2000 announcing the plight of the pregnant women to the global community (Nour 2008, 77). Since a long ago maternal mortality has become one of the most studied and talked matter in the international academia not only this rate was high enough to get attention but also its close cohesion with newborn, infant and child well being. Many demographic (like young maternal age and poverty), behavioral and environmental (like smoking, alcohol, occupational exposures), clinical (like HIV AIDS and tuberculosis) and health care circumstances (like awareness among the women about health care benefits, the availability of health facility and their status) factors have direct impact on the status of new-born babies (Orr and Miller 1995, 165).