Articles: health.
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Maternal mortality ratios in Kasama and Kaputa Districts, two remote rural areas of Northern Province, Zambia, were suspected to be very high. In order to evaluate the impact of a referral system baseline maternal mortality levels and additional maternal mortality risk arising from poor accessibility were estimated. ⋯ This study suggests that solving the accessibility problem would decrease the mortality burden from maternal causes with at least 29% in Kasama District and 65% in Kaputa District.
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Turkey has a young population as a result of high fertility and growth rates in the recent past. Thirty-five percent of the population is less than 15 years of age, and 25 percent of the population comprises reproductive-age woman. The latest estimate of the population growth rate was 19 per thousand for the 1990-1995 period. ⋯ The government also pays special attention to the socio-economic priority areas of the country and initiates special health programs in these areas first, in order to reduce high regional differences in MCH indices. Despite these dramatic improvements, one great obstacle is the high maternal and infant mortality and morbidity rates in the country at the time of ratification of the European Social Charter. The success made so for in maternal and child health should not be ignored, but it must be realized that much still remains to be done to improve the MCH level further.