Safe Motherhood programme in Nepal

Safe motherhood programme is one of the important programmes carried out under ministry of health towards reducing maternal and neonatal mortality.

Objectives, Targets and Programme of Safe Motherhood in Nepal

Objectives

The main objectives of safe motherhood programme in Nepal is to reduce neonatal mortality rate,to reduced maternal complication and to reduce neonatal mortality rate. The other objectives of safe motherhood programme in Nepal are as follows.

1. Strengthen and extension of maternal health care services.
2. To increase the quality of antenatal, delivery and postnatal services by providing training opportunities to all level of workers.
3. Strengthen the basic delivery services in district hospital by providing necessary instruments and qualified and efficient health workers.
4. To provide at least one kit box (a box in which all the necessary medicine and instruments) to each and every health post, sub health post and all the ANM and MCCH workers who are engaged in health institutions for the emergency treatment and management of complication during the period of antenatal, delivery and postnatal.
5. To establish effective and workable mailing system from village to district level.
6. Strengthen the community based safe motherhood services through public participation by condition information and educational programme.
7. To increase public awareness and participation about different subject related to safe motherhood services.
8. Especial emphasis is given for the appropriate improvement of minimum legal age at marriage and liberalization abortion law.
9. Promotion of basic education for children and adult education and income generating skill programmes for woman.
10. Identification and conduction of research and education activities for the improvement of mother's health.
11. Increase the mailing and the service providing facilities for maternal complication and emergency service.
    
    
    Targets
    
    The following targets related to safe motherhood have been set for the second long term health plan(1997-2017).
    
    
12. To reduced the total fertility rate 3.05 per woman.
    To reduced the maternal mortality rate to 250 per hundred thousand live births.
13. To increase the contraceptive per valence rate 65 percent.
14. To increase the percentage of pregnant woman attending a minimum four antenatal visits to 80 percent. To reduced the percentage of iron deficiency anaemia among pregnant woman 15 percent.
15. Ti increase the percentage of woman of childbearing age(15-49) who receive tetanus taxoid(TT2) to 90 percent.
16. To income the percentage of delivery attended by trained personnel to 60 percent.
17. To increase The supply of unmet need of necessary delivery services at the rate of 2 percent by the year 2006 in those districts where the programme has been launched and this rate also increase along with extension of the programme.
18. To decrease the percentage of newborns weighting less then 2500 grams to 12 percent.
    
    

Programmes

The followings four types of strategies have been formulated to conduct the safe motherhood programme in Nepal.

1. Strengthen the maternal and child health care services include the following strategies. (a)Strengthen the primary health services related to safe motherhood. (b) Expansion the district hospital as a centre for the basic delivery services. (c) Effective mobilization of local NGO's.
   
2. Involvement of different agencies\ organizations in safe motherhood programme.
   
3. Increase the status of woman through education, law and income generating activities.
   
4. Promotion of research activities related to safe motherhood.