India on course to achieve maternal mortality rate target of 70/lakh live births by 2030: Govt

The maternal mortality ratio of India has declined by 10 points, the Union health ministry said Monday, noting that the country is on the verge of achieving its SDG [sustainable development goals] target of 70 per lakh live births by 2030.

Quoting a special bulletin on Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) released by the Registrar General of India, the ministry said the country has been witnessing a progressive reduction in MMR from 130/lakh in 2014-2016, 122/lakh in 2015-17, 113/lakh in 2016-18, and 103 per lakh live births in 2017-19.

The maternal mortality ratio is the number of maternal deaths during a given time period per 1,00,000 live births during the same time period.

With this persistent decline, the ministry said India is on the verge of achieving the National Health Policy (NHP) target of 100/lakh live births is on track to achieve the SDG target of 70 per lakh live births by 2030.

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The number of states which have achieved the SDG target has now risen from five to seven—Kerala (30), Maharashtra (38), Telangana (56), Tamil Nadu (58), Andhra Pradesh (58), Jharkhand (61), and Gujarat (70). There are now nine states that have achieved the target of MMR set by NHP which include the above seven states as well as Karnataka (83) and Haryana (96).

Five states—Uttarakhand (101), West Bengal (109), Punjab (114), Bihar (130), Odisha (136) and Rajasthan (141)—have MMR in between 100 and 150, while for four states of Chhattisgarh (160), Madhya Pradesh (163), Uttar Pradesh (167) and Assam (205) have MMR above 150, the ministry said.

The ministry also said encouraging achievement has been reported by Uttar Pradesh, which has shown the maximum decline of 30 points followed by Rajasthan (23 points), Bihar (19 points), Punjab (15 points) and Odisha (14 points).

"Remarkably, three states (Kerala, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh) have shown more than 15 per cent decline in MMR, while six states namely, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Bihar, Punjab, Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh have shown a decline between 10-15 per cent. Four states -- Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Odisha and Karnataka -- witnessed a decline between 5-10 per cent, it said.

The ministry added that West Bengal, Haryana, Uttarakhand and Chhattisgarh have shown an increase in MMR and hence, will need to reappraise their strategy and intensify their efforts to accelerate the MMR decline to achieve the SDG target.

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