Azerbaijan, Baku, June 1 /Trend S.Isayev, T. Jafarov/
Iranian official from the country's Ministry of Health has revealed the latest statistics on the maternal mortality (MM) rate in the country, ILNA reported.
Head of the Maternal Health Office of the Health Ministry, Farahnaz Torkestani said that the MMR (matermal mortality rate) in Iran currently stands at 20,3 per 100,000 live births.
She noted that in accordance with Iran's 5-year develoment plan, this number should be reduced to 15 women.
In 2011, Dr. Mehmet Hulki, a UNFPA representative in Tehran spoke to Tehran Times newspaper, where he said that Iran has succeeded to reduce maternal mortality by 80 percent within 18 years.
At the time he also said that Iran is one of the top 3 countries in the world that has reached to this standard.
According to previous studies, MMR in Iran during the 2004-2006 was higher, standing at 24,7.
Overall, maternal mortality rate in Iran has dramatically declined since the Islamic Revolution in 1979. In 1975 Iran's MMR was 274 deaths per 100,000 live births.
This figure fell to 150 deaths in 1990, and continued to decline. It reached 94 deaths in 1995, 38 deaths in 2005 and 30 in 2008.
Iran has implemented a number of highly successful policies through the years, which were related to population control and family planning. These strategies resulted in a dramatic decline in the total fertility and crude birth rates over the past 30 years.