Hon Madam Chair, the maternal mortality rate is typically measured every few years. The best baseline estimate of maternal mortality that we have post-1994 is that recorded in the first ever demographic and health survey conducted in South Africa in 1998. The maternal mortality rate in 1998 was estimated at 150 per 100 000 live births. We do not have any figures for 1995.
The most recent estimate for the maternal mortality rate provided by Statistics SA was 124 per 100 000 live births for 2002. The recently released triennial report for the period 2005 to 2007 by the National Committee on Confidential Enquiries into Maternal Deaths estimated that the health-facility-based maternal mortality rate is 140 per 100 000 live births.
These figures are significantly lower than the estimated 400 per 100 000 live births used by the United Nations Statistics Division, the 2008 global progress report on the Millennium Development Goals and the report on maternal and child health published in the international medical journal, The Lancet, in August this year. The difference between the facility-based maternal mortality rate and the estimate by the UN Statistics Division is that the UN-based figures take into account maternal deaths that occurred in communities that did not attend our health facilities, whether private or public. We do not have such figures.
Whatever figures you take, whether from Statistics SA, our own confidential enquiries into maternal deaths, or from the United Nations, we are not satisfied with the maternal mortality rate and we are going to do something about it. That is why, when I received the report on the confidential enquiries, I convened a national summit on August 25. It was a national summit of national and provincial practitioners responsible for maternal health, and of representatives of health professional organisations, especially those that represent doctors and nurses and other stakeholders. We called them together to discuss the maternal, perinatal and under-five mortality rates.
This summit reviewed all the ministerial reports and put forward a series of recommendations. We have processed these recommendations and shared them with provincial managers for action. We have also started a process of in- service training for doctors and midwives in the essential steps in the management of obstetric emergencies, which the National Committee on Confidential Enquiries into Maternal Deaths found to be weak in some of our hospitals.
In addition, during this month I met with representatives of the SA Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists before an international conference which was held in Cape Town two weeks ago. I also met with the Society of Midwives of SA and we are developing partnerships on what to do. [Time expired.] [Applause.]