Reducing Maternal Mortality in Developing Countries: Evidence from Sierra Leone

Sahr Eric Nabieu, University of Sierra Leone
Almamy Koroma, Ministry of Health and Sanitation, Sierra Leone

At the 2000 Millennium Summit, world leaders committed themselves among other things toward the reduction of maternal mortality by 75%, come 2015. Nearly two-thirds of a decade has gone by and only the industrialized countries have improved on this goal. Most Sub-Saharan countries including Sierra Leone have seriously lagged behind. The 2002 United Nations Children’s Fund Report shows that out of 514,000 women that die each year at child-birth, over 50% of the cases occur in Sub-Saharan Africa. In 2000, the maternal mortality rate for Sierra Leone was estimated at 2,000 per every 100,000 live births. In 2007, the “Countdown to 2015- Maternal, Newborn & Child Survival” shows a staggering figure of 2,100 maternal deaths per every 100,000 live birth. This paper explored the available statistics from seven referral hospitals in Sierra Leone. The results of our analysis have shown that maternal mortality is indeed on the increase and at an alarming rate.