British medical journal Lancet has reported recently that there is a sharp fall in the deaths due to childbirth globally though it claimed that it was pressurized to delay the release of its report until after U.N. meetings this week on public health funding.
On the other hand, a new report from the U.N. has been quoted as saying that the number of maternity related deaths still remain as high as 500,000.
The disagreement once again brings to forth the politics involved in public health where progress made in tackling a problem can reduce fund flows.
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.
On the other hand the British medical journal has released a paper on Sunday saying that there has been a drop of 35% of death during pregnancy in the last 28 years.
Richard Horton, editor of Lancet, said he was disappointed when maternal health advocates pressured him to delay publishing the report until September, after several critical fundraising meetings. He also wrote a commentary in Lancet on the pressure though he did not name anybody.
Christopher Murray and colleagues at the Institute for Health Metrics at the University of Washington found that maternal deaths have fallen from about 500,000 deaths in 1980 to about 343,000 in 2008.
Another report on Tuesday by the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child health a global alliance hosted by the World Health Organization, claimed progress in maternal health has "lagged." As per the data available with them 350,000 to 500,000 women still die in childbirth every year
U.N. officials claim that they need $20 billion between 2011 and 2015 to save women and children in developing countries.
Dr. Flavia Bustreo, director of the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health, denied there was any conflict between her group's study and the Lancet study.
In the field of public health the interpretation of good news can be as bad as well as more the number of deaths that happen more funds can be collected by the U.N. officials.
The U.N. is hosting a meeting of public health experts and heads of state on maternal and child health this week in New York, followed by another one in Washington in June.
