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 sayin.
The Union Health Ministry added that with this persistent decline, India is on track to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal (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).
Four states – Chhattisgarh (160), Madhya Pradesh (163), Uttar Pradesh (167) and Assam (205) – have MMR above 150. Five states – Uttarakhand (101), West Bengal (109), Punjab (114), Bihar (130), Odisha (136) and Rajasthan (141) – have MMR in between 100-150.
“Encouraging achievement has been reported by Uttar Pradesh, which has shown the maximum decline of 30 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 per cent.