Nepal has been conferred with the 2012 Resolve Award in recognition of its achievements in health, in particular maternal and neonatal health.

Ambassador/Permanent Representative of Nepal to the United Nations Office and the leader of the Nepali delegation to the 65 World Health Assembly, Shanker D. Bairagi, on Tuesday received the award on behalf of the Government of Nepal.

Nepal has been conferred with the 2012 Resolve Award in recognition of its achievements in health, in particular maternal and neonatal health.

Ambassador/Permanent Representative of Nepal to the United Nations Office and the leader of the Nepali delegation to the 65 World Health Assembly, Shanker D. Bairagi, on Tuesday received the award on behalf of the Government of Nepal.

Edward W Birgells Regional Director US Agency for International Development - USAID (Sindh) maintaining that healthcare was important for political purposes as well as for the welfare of the people, announced that USAID had approved US $ 300 million child-health program for Pakistan “and a lot of that money would be coming to Sindh”. He was speaking at the inauguration ceremony of Health Sector Reforms & Support Unit that is being established with a Rs. 270 million grant from the USAID.

Better care has cut the number of women dying in pregnancy and childbirth by nearly half in the past two decades, but there is still a death every two minutes, according to UN figures released yesterday.

India and Nigeria between them accounted for one third of the 287,000 deaths of pregnant women in 2010 and Africa accounts for 36 of the 40 countries with the highest maternal deaths.

But health experts hailed the 47% fall in fatalities from 543,000 in 1990, and said the strategy for saving more lives was clear.

LUCKNOW: The state government will make a presentation on the National Rural Health Mission before the Union health ministry's project approval board on Thursday. The presentation will decide the allocations for UP for the financial year 2012-13. The proposal was finalized in the NRHM general body meeting held in mid-April. Headed by chief secretary Jawed Usmani, the apex body of NRHM approved the project implementation plan (PIP) worth Rs 3787.57 crore for the new fiscal. In 2011-12, UP's plan size for NRHM was about Rs 3,127 crore.

India and Nigeria together accounted for a third of the deaths of pregnant women globally in 2010, latest UN figures said, even as maternal deaths declined by nearly half in the past two decades due to improvement in health systems and increased female education.

Globally, an estimated 287,000 women died in pregnancy and childbirth in 2010, a decline of 47 per cent from levels in 1990, with sub-Saharan Africa and southern Asia accounting for 85 per cent of the those maternal deaths, according to a report on trends in maternal mortality between 1990 to 2010 released by UN Population Fund (UNFPA), World Health Organisation, UN Children’s Fund and the World Bank.

A report on the quality of life for mothers around the world put Maldives in 45th place out of 80 developing countries.

The 13th Save the Children annual report, released on Tuesday, lists countries based on a range of UN and World Health Organization parameters such as life expectancy, maternity deaths, education, earnings, and maternity leave benefits.

The best country in the world overall to give birth and raise children in is Norway, followed by Iceland and Switzerland. The United States ranked 25th and the United Kingdom came in 10th.

The African nation of Niger has ousted Afghanistan as the worst place in the world to be a mother, largely due to hunger, according to an annual report out Tuesday by Save the Children.
In contrast, Norway is the best according to the group’s ‘Best and Worst Places to Be a Mom’ ranking which compares 165 countries in terms of maternal health, education, economic status and children’s health and nutrition.

Population has started to swell in Delhi’s suburbs. Gurgaon and Noida (Gautam Buddha Nagar) are among the top five places in India that recorded the highest decadal growth rate in population.
While Gurgaon recorded a 74% rise in population between 2001 and 2011, Noida saw a rise by almost 52%, followed by Ghaziabad at 40.66%. India saw a 17.6% increase in population over the decade. Kurung Kumey — a small district in Arunachal Pradesh bordering China — recorded the highest decadal increase in population at 111%, followed by Yanam in Puducherry at 77.15%.