Good news: Sharp drop in maternal deaths worldwide

[Liberal_in_LA]

Lancet: Sharp drop in maternal deaths worldwide
By MARIA CHENG (AP) – 50 minutes ago

LONDON — The number of women dying in childbirth worldwide has dropped dramatically, a British medical journal reports, adding that it was pressured to delay its findings until after U.N. meetings this week on public health funding.

A new, separate report by a group headed by the United Nations reached a very different conclusion on maternal mortality, saying the figure remains as high as 500,000 deaths a year.

The disagreement reveals the politics behind public health, where progress made in tackling a health problem can jeopardize funding. Public health officials are gearing up to ask for billions of dollars at U.N. meetings.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is holding a press conference later Wednesday in New York to kick off a new global initiative on reproductive, maternal and newborn health.

The British medical journal Lancet rushed out a paper on Sunday that found the number of women who die in pregnancy or childbirth has dropped by more than 35 percent over 28 years.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j-phKb8xCQcxd8xanFFF7f1IN3oAD9F2UIVO0