Every 90 seconds a woman dies in childbirth somewhere in the world.

That's the grim -- and heartbreaking -- statistic from Amnesty International. The organization is highlighting this and other global health concerns to coincide with the United Nations Summit on the Millennium Development Goals this week in New York City. Hunger, AIDS and clean drinking water are all on the docket for discussion.

90 percent of maternal deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, according to the New York Times.

But, even with all our westernized medical advances, the United States doesn't stack up so well...

"When it comes to mortality rates — measured as the number of maternal deaths per 100,000 live births — the United States ranked 50th on a United Nations list of countries, behind nearly all other industrialized nations and even behind not-so-prosperous ones like Serbia and Slovakia. In some respects, the American situation has worsened in the last two decades, said Nan Strauss, an Amnesty researcher."

Even though the death rate is a fraction of what it was a century ago, of major concern is that relatively little progress has been seen in the last two decades. 

- Daily Life Wellness

www.dailylifewellness.com

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