India's MMR declines by 7.4% says Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare
Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare Dr. Harsh Vardhan
New Delhi: India has successfully brought down maternal mortality ratio (MMR) by 9 points in one year, as per data released by the Registrar General of India. Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh are among the states that have shown most turn down.
According to Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare Dr. Harsh Vardhan, the ratio has declined from 122 in 2015-17 to 113 in 2016-18 (7.4% decline). He said that India has been witnessing a progressive decline in maternal mortality from 167 in 2011-2013 to 130 in 2014-2016, 122 in 2015-17 and 113 in 2016-18.
Maternal death is when a woman dies during her pregnancy or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy, irrespective of the duration and site of the pregnancy, from any cause other than accidental or incidental.
Speaking on this, Dr Harsha Vardhan said, "With this persistent decline, India is on track to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) of 70 per 1 lakh live births by 2030 and National Health Policy (NHP) target by 2020. The number of states which have achieved the SDG target has now risen from 3 to 5, Kerala (43), Maharashtra (46) Tamil Nadu (60), Telangana (63) and Andhra Pradesh (65). There are eleven (11) states that have achieved the target of MMR set by the NHP which include the above 5 and the states of Jharkhand (71), Gujarat (75), Haryana (91), Karnataka (92), West Bengal (98) and Uttarakhand (99)."
Dr. Harsh Vardhan has stated that three states, Punjab (129), Bihar (149) and Odisha (150) have a maternal mortality rate in between 100-150 while for five states Chhattisgarh (159), Rajasthan (164), Madhya Pradesh (173), Uttar Pradesh (197) and Assam (215), the MMR is above 150.
Of all states, Rajasthan has shown the maximum decline of 22 points whereas Uttar Pradesh (19 points), Odisha (18 points) Bihar (16 points) and Madhya Pradesh (15 points) have also emerged as other performers.