Task-shifting: The crucial role of medical doctors in reducing maternal deaths in South Sudan

Abstract

Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 5 is related to reducing maternal mortality. Against the background of the failure of this MDG, South Sudan has two features that make it interesting for the international donor community: Firstly, South Sudan has the highest national maternal mortality ratio in the world, above 2,000 (i.e. 2,000 maternal deaths/100,000 live births), which is roughly 1,000 times higher than in Sweden. Secondly, leading cadres in the Ministry of Health in Juba have an open and scientifically updated attitude to the most fundamental underlying problem: the scarcity of human resources for health (HRH) to save maternal lives.