Child and Maternal Mortality
in Islamic Countries
85
3.2.1. Maternal and child mortality in Indonesia
Trends of maternal mortality in Indonesia
The World Health Organization (WHO) first compiled the available MMR estimates in Indonesia
in a global maternal mortality compendium, “Maternal Mortality: A Global Factbook,” in 1991.55
Community-based studies in the 1980s reported MMR ranging from 343 to 582 per 100,000 live
births. The reported national MMR estimate for 1985-86 was 450 per 100,000 live births. The
Indonesia Midwives Association estimated MMR around 400 per 100,000 live births in 1987.
However, the empirical basis of these national estimates was not reported or known.
Subsequently, the WHO adopted a modeling approach to revise the estimates of MMR for 1990
and placed Indonesia in the Group E in terms of data availability that characterized the country
with “no available estimates of maternal mortality.” The revised 1990 MMR estimate for the
country was 650 per 100,000 live births.66 Since then the WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA, and the World
Bank reported MMR of 470 (95% CI: 370-580) in 1995, 230 (58-440) in 2000, 420 (240-600)
for 1998-2003. The Maternal Mortality Estimation Interagency Group (MMEIG) — consisting of
WHO/UNICEF/UNFPA, theWorld Bank and the United Nations Population Division—estimated
MMR of 240 (140-380) in 2008, 220 (130-350) in 2010, 190 (120-300) in 2013 and 126 (93-
179) in 2015. 1,67-72 The MMR estimates fromWHO/MMEIG are shown in Figure 3.28.
Figure 3.28. MMR estimates in Indonesia by the WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA, World Bank Group,
and the United Nations Population Division
Note: 2003 MMR estimate is for 1998-2003 period