Maternal mortality rate declining, will achieve MDG soon: Health ministry

New Delhi: The Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) in the country has registered a 5.7 percent decline and if it continues to fall at this rate, India will achieve its Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target, the government said on Tuesday. Minister of State for Health Shripad Yesso Naik in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha said that under the MDG-5, the target is to reduce MMR by three quarters between 1990 and 2015. Based on the UN Inter–Agency Expert Group’s MMR estimates in the publication ‘Trends in Maternal Mortality: 1990 to 2015’, the target for MMR is estimated to be 139 per 1,00,000 live births by 2015, taking a baseline of 556 per 100,000 live births in 1990. [caption id=“attachment_2775218” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] The minister said MMR of India has shown a decline from 212 per 100,000 live births in the period 2007-09 to 167 per 100,000 live births in the period 2011-13, as per the latest report of the Registrar General of India, Sample Registration System (RGI-SRS). “India’s rate of decline of MMR between 2007-09 and 2011-13 is 5.7 percent. If the MMR declines at the same pace, India will achieve an MMR of 139 per 100,000 live births,” he said. Under National Health Mission, the government has taken key steps to address the issue of maternal deaths and to accelerate the pace of reduction of MMR across all states including SC/ST, he said. The major steps taken in this regard are promotion of institutional deliveries through Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY), operationalisation of sub-centres, primary health centres, community health centres and district hospitals for providing 24x7 basic and comprehensive obstetric care among others.