New Delhi: In a major achievement, India's maternal mortality ratio (MMR) has come down by 7.4 per cent in 2016-18. However, the MMR is still almost double the Sustainable Development Goal target set by the World Health Organization (WHO).
According to the Sample Registration System's (SRS) estimate released by the Registrar General of India on Thursday, India's MMR in 2016-18 has been reduced to 113 from 122 in 2015-17.
Maternal mortality ratio is the number of maternal deaths per 1,00,000 live births. Since it is considered rare, deaths of three years are pooled together to get an estimate. The WHO has set its sustainable development goal which aims at reducing the global MMR to less than 70 by 2030.
As per the experts, India has missed the 2017 National Health Policy's target of reducing the MMR to 100 as the present MMR is at 113.
At 215, Assam had the highest MMR in the country, followed by Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh with MMR of 197 and 173, respectively.
Kerala reported the lowest MMR of 43, followed by Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu with MMR of 46 and 60, respectively. Kerala's MMR, however, has seen an increase since last time, as have that of West Bengal, Uttarakhand, Punjab and Chhattisgarh. Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Odisha have recorded the highest decline in MMR.
Five states — Kerala, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh — have achieved the WHO's Sustainable Development Goal of reducing the MMR below 70, while there are 11 states that have met the NHP target of reducing the maternal mortality ratio to 100. The 11 states are Kerala, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, West Bengal and Uttarakhand.