KATHMANDU, 20 December (IRIN) - Nepal is failing to take measures to tackle extremely high levels of maternal mortality, with the issue largely neglected by the authorities, according to a new global World Disaster Report by the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC).

Pregnancy-related complications kill 5,000 to 6,000 Nepalese women and girls every year, especially in the villages, due to a lack of skilled birth attendants (SBAs) and well-equipped health centres with emergency obstetric care.

"The maternal death toll of one woman every 90 minutes makes Nepal the deadliest place in the world to give birth, outside Afghanistan and a clutch of countries in sub-Saharan Africa," the report said.

It added that the likelihood of a newborn baby surviving was greatly reduced if its mother died in childbirth. Around 30,000 babies die before they reach one month old, one of the highest neonatal mortality rates in the world, it said.

"The number of women dying from maternal health problems in Nepal is multiple times more than the total number of people killed in the country's armed conflict," said Jonathan Walter, editor of the World Disaster Report released on Tuesday.

The decade-long armed conflict in the country has killed nearly 14,000 people.

But although the number of women killed due to maternal health problem is so many times more than those killed by conflict, it has not received the same national attention.

"When there are more women dying (due to pregnancy-related complication) more than the military conflict we need to deal the maternal health issue with the same priority (like the political issues)," said Mathew Kahane, humanitarian coordinator and resident representative of United Nations in Nepal.

Kahane said that the current transition process should also focus on such humanitarian problems and not just on arms management and similar post-conflict issues.

In November, the Maoist rebels and the interim government of seven national parties signed a historic peace agreement to end the armed conflict. Key political steps like management of arms and armies, forming a new interim government and holding elections for the constituent assembly have been agreed. But local and international aid workers are concerned that both parties have failed to stress much on implementing more development work in the villages.

"A humanitarian issue such as maternal health has not received any of attention, which shows how highly neglected the issue is," said Indira Basnet, an expert on maternal health.

NN/JL/DS

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