NEW DELHI: The central government on Monday announced that the Maternal Maternity Ratio (MMR) of India has declined by 10 points, with Kerala, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh recording sharpest decline.
However, the rise in MMR in West Bengal, Haryana, Uttarakhand and Chhattisgarh have emerged as a cause of concern, with the government saying that these states need to review their existing efforts to get better results.
The Registrar General of India in a special bulletin on MMR, which refers to deaths due to complications during pregnancy and childbirth, said the ratio has declined from 113 in 2016-18 to 103 in 2017-19, a 8.8 per cent decline.
The country has been witnessing a progressive reduction in MMR from 130 in 2014-2016, 122 in 2015-17, 113 in 2016-18, and to 103 in 2017-19, a statement issued by the Union Health Ministry said.
The ministry added that with this persistent decline, India is on track to achieve the Sustainable Goal Development (SDG) target of 70/lakh live births by 2030.
The number of states which have achieved the SDG target has now risen from 5 to 7 and includes 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 the National Health Policy, which was 100/lakh live births by 2020. Apart from these seven states, the other two states are 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 100-150, while for four states, Chhattisgarh (160), Madhya Pradesh (163), Uttar Pradesh (167) and Assam (205) have MMR above 150.
“Encouraging achievement has been reported by Uttar Pradesh, which has shown the maximum decline of 30 points, Rajasthan (23 points), Bihar (19 points), Punjab (15 points) and Odisha (14 points),” the ministry said.
Three states - Kerala, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh - have shown more than 15 percent decline in MMR, while six states, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Bihar, Punjab, Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh have shown a decline between 10-15 percent.
Four states -- Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Odisha and Karnataka, witnessed a decline between 5-10 per cent.