SANTO DOMINGO.-In the Dominican Republic, important challenges persist in issues such as maternal mortality, teenage pregnancies and equitable access to quality health services, factors that directly affect well-being indicators and compliance with the Sustainable Development Goals for 2030.
Julia del Carmen Sánchez, resident coordinator of the United Nations, expressed that, despite the challenges, the country is among the nations with the greatest achievement of the goal and a real effort is being made to advance the sustainable development goals.
It indicated that 37.3% of the objectives have been achieved, 40% of the indicators show limited progress; That is to say, there is progress, but insufficient to meet the 2030 goal, and 22.7% are experiencing setbacks.
He stated that the country is also moving towards meeting the goals of reducing infant and neo-infant deaths.
Del Carmen Sánchez spoke during her participation in the Weekly Lunch of the Corripio Communications Group, in which she was accompanied by Gabriela Alvarado, coordinator of the World Food Program; Anyili Sanabria, representative of the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund; Mario Serrano, representative of the Population Fund; and Rodrigo Castañuela, representative for Food and Agriculture.
He said that among the setbacks are the rate of deaths on the roads, the prevalence of obesity, the decrease in the completion of the secondary education cycle, the setback in the guarantee of labor rights threatened by initiatives that seek to modify these rights and access to drinking water.
He pointed out that other indicators are stagnant, such as those related to education, health and gender equality.
Challenges
Regarding maternal deaths, Alba María Ropero expressed that the country will not achieve the goal established for 2030, since it currently stands at 124 deaths per hundred thousand, while the goal is to reduce it to 70.
He acknowledged that efforts are being made and that there is a national plan to reduce maternal mortality.
He stated that the determinants of maternal deaths are related to equity, indicating that poor women, with little schooling, unemployed, malnourished and without health insurance are the most affected.
“There are multiple factors that affect maternal mortality, including lack of access to health services and prenatal care,” he highlighted.
She explained that in many cases problems such as hypertension or preeclampsia are not identified in time, which causes women to arrive at hospitals too late. “It is an issue of access to health services. We see high macro coverage and good institutional agreements, but women are arriving late.
He gave as an example the lack of blood in hospitals, which aggravates postpartum hemorrhages.
“Better nutrition and education are needed to prevent teenage pregnancies, and we need to work more inter-institutionally and as a society to reduce these indicators so that they correspond to the level of socioeconomic development of the country.
The expert recognized that the country has made progress in reducing infant and neonatal mortality, which has been decreasing in the last five years thanks to plans and improvements in the quality of care.
He indicated that, in the case of neonatal mortality, it is currently 15 per thousand live births and the goal is to reach 13, which represents great progress.
Celebration of the 80th anniversary of the UN
Event. Del Carmen Sánchez announced a meeting for the organization’s 80th anniversary, which will take place on the 17th in the National District.
He pointed out that the interest of these meetings is to talk with the Dominican people about the achievements of the UN in the country, but also how the country has positively impacted international politics.
He also recalled the efforts of the Dominican Republic, in recognition of the Mirabal sisters, resulted in the UN declaring November 25 as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.
