Khetam Malkawi, The Jordan Times

‘Jordan poised to meet MDG goal on decreasing maternal deaths’

AMMAN — Although Jordan has achieved progress in meeting the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) related to maternal mortality, the goal related to infant mortality needs more effort to be met before 2015, health sector and UN representatives said on Thursday.

Dominique Hyde, UNICEF representative in Jordan, said maternal mortality has drastically declined over the years in Jordan and "if current trends are maintained, Jordan will meet the fifth MDG goal".

She noted that maternal mortality in Jordan was 19 cases per 100,000 in 2009, and the country’s target is to reduce it to 12.

As for infant mortality, Hyde said it was declining at a slower pace and stood at 23 per each 1,000 live births in 2009, while Jordan’s target for 2015 is 11.3.

She noted that reaching that requires further effort.

According to Hyde, the causes of neonatal mortality need to be quickly addressed if the MDG target is to be met.

A national study launched earlier this year showed that respiratory distress syndrome was the leading cause of death among infants (53.5 per cent), followed by sepsis (16.2 per cent) and congenital anomalies (13.8 per cent).

The study, conducted by UNICEF, the Ministry of Health and the Higher Population Council (HPC), showed that 30 per cent of all neonatal deaths were preventable and that 44.3 per cent were possibly preventable with optimal care.

“The study needs to shape the design of plans and programmes to address disparities in child health and mortality indicators at the governorate and regional levels,” Hyde said at a high level meeting for health sector representatives and UN agencies, including UNICEF, UNFPA and UNDP.

The meeting was organised by the HPC to come up with a national plan addressing maternal and infant mortality for post-2015.

Speaking at the opening of the one-day meeting, HPC Secretary General Raeda Qutob said Jordan has a great role in drafting the post-2015 development agenda, especially the goals related to health.

She noted that the participants' recommendations will help in shaping a national agenda to reduce infant mortality.

A paper of proposals which was distributed at the meeting showed that raising the minimum age of marriage beyond 18 years and adding a chromosomal test to the pre-marriage examination are some of the recommendations to be discussed to reduce both maternal and infant mortality.

The Millennium Declaration, endorsed in 2000 by UN member states, defined the MDGs as a common set of targets for the development community to be achieved by 2015.

Now, in order to build a post-2015 Development Agenda, the UN is carrying out global and national consultations in order to understand what priorities and recommendations are to be included in this future agenda.

The national consultations are an open dialogue among all stakeholders that includes the views of the poor and vulnerable, according to the UN.

Those who want to share their opinions about the post-2015 agenda can interact with the UN through Twitter using @UnitedNationsJo, Facebook through fb.me/UnitedNationsJo or the United Nations website www.un.org.jo.