This simple statistic can tell the health of our healthcare system

Communities particularly vulnerable to poor maternal health include the less educated and those who are undocumented or of illegal status (who are actually not even included in Malaysia’s MMR data). — AFP

There is a simple number that can tell you at a glance, the state of a country’s healthcare system.

This statistic reflects the ­number of women who die due to pregnancy-related causes, and is known as the maternal ­mortality ratio (MMR).