Nepal: Conference on reproductive health

28 July 2009
Xinhua General News Service (China)

With the issue on making reproductive health accessible among all people, a three-day international conference on reproductive health service and security has kicked off in Nepali capital Kathmandu on Tuesday.

The function, said to be the first of its kind for Nepal, was organized on how to meet the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) on reproductive health and exchange experiences and problems related to reproductive health among the participating countries.

Around 90 representatives from Nepal and other member states of South Asian Association Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and agencies of the United Nations have been participating in the conference organized by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in Kathmandu.

Participants are to discuss on ways to reduce maternal and child mortality ratio in the South Asia, the region having the highest rate of maternal and child mortality in the world and dwell on performance in meeting MDGs achieved by the SAARC countries.

The Goal No. 5 of the United Nations MDG targets to reduce by three quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the maternal mortality ratio and 192 countries, including Nepal, have committed to achieve the target.

Inaugurating the conference, Nepali President Ram Baran Yadav stressed on the need for developing effective mechanism to reduce maternal mortality in Nepal as more than 2,000 pregnant women have been dying in the country due to reproductive health.

"There is need to work with the community in reproductive health's sector and if that happens, this would be effective," he said.

While mentioning that though Nepal achieved a significant progress in health sector after 1990, there are still some challenges, he stressed that the government should upgrade, develop and modernize health posts established in remote villages.