The maternal mortality rate (MMR) has touched zero in Fars Province, said the vice-chancellor of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences on Monday. “National health policies aim to reduce the national MMR rate to zero and eliminate all preventable maternal deaths across the country,” said Dr. Mohsen Moqaddami. The province’s rate was 18 and 11 in every 100,000 live births in the years 2014 and 2015 respectively. Iran is one of the few countries to have achieved the Millennium Development Goal 5, which sought a 75% reduction in every country’s MMR by 2015, with an 83% drop between 1990 and 2012. Iran has also ratified the Sustainable Development Goals (2015-2030), which says global MMR must be reduced to less than 70 per 100,000 live births. To achieve this, each country will need to contribute a two-thirds reduction in its MMR by 2030, regardless of their MMR at baseline. Iran’s national MMR stood at 25 in 2015.
