6 Improve maternal health

Where we are?

Goal is achievable.

The actual rate of decline for reducing maternal mortality indicator is calculated as approximately 26 percent implying that the country has already achieved this goal. According to the MDG Progress Report (2010), skilled health personnel attend to ALL births in the State of Kuwait since 1993.As for the reproductive health target, there is no information on any of the indicators for Kuwait. Lack of information on these indicators has to do with their irrelevance to a highly conservative culture in which practices to be measured by the indicators are not observed in a routine fashion. However, given the standard of the living of the country, as well as the highly advanced stage of its health care system, it can easily be inferred that the country can achieve this target.


The Kuwait Medical Genetic Centre, Ministry of health in Kuwait requested the professional services of a UNDP Consultant in Genetic Screening for newly born babies in order to perform early screening and detection of genetic diseases that leads to physical and mental handicap, identify them, and compile information for the early identification and prevention of such diseases which can be done by medical and nutritional type of treatment.


  1. Provide necessary consultancies and provide a general framework for genetic screening for newly born babies for disorders that causes physical and mental handicap.
  2. Provide consultation and interpretation of the screening results in order to plan an early detection and treatment strategy.
  3. Train and build local capacity on how to execute such early screening of genetic diseases in order to decrease the percentage of new handicap population in the State of Kuwait.
  4. Propose a Protocol on how to provide treatment and intervention for genetic diseases identified by the early screening.  This treatment whether with drug or with food will lead to prevention of the complication of these disease which include physical and mental handicap. For example; phenylketonuria which can be treated by avoiding any animal protein form the baby diet or the congenital hypothyroidism complications that can be  prevented by supplying the missed hormone.

UNDP's work in Kuwait

1.42 years
until 2015

1990 2015
Targets for MDG 5
  1. Reduce by three quarters the maternal mortality ratio
    • Most maternal deaths could be avoided
    • More women are receiving antenatal care
    • Inequalities in care during pregnancy are striking
    • Poverty and lack of education perpetuate high adolescent birth rates