Maternal Mortality in India Falls   

In very good news to India, Maternal Mortality rate in India took a dip by 22 per cent according to the Sample Registration System (SRS) bulletin released on Wednesday, 6 June. Maternal Mortality rate commonly hailed as the MMR is compounded as the proportion of maternal deaths per 1,00,000 live births. MMR is reported to have declined drastically from 167 in 2011-2013 to 130 in 2014-2016. Uttar Pradesh with thirty per cent decline in the MMR has topped the list of the states. "The latest SRS figures reveal that we have gone beyond the MDG target of Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) of 139 by 2015 & have reached 130!! I congratulate the Ministry, @MoHFW_India and the states for their joint efforts," Union Health Minister J P Nadda said on Twitter. In order to have a better analysis of the maternal mortality rate at the regional level, the government has categorized states into three groups - EAG, southern states and "other" states. EAG states comprise Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, and Assam while Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu come under the southern states. The "other" states categories cover the remaining states and Union territories. The decline has been most significant in Empowered Action Group (EAG) states from 246 to 188, while the decline has been from 93 to 77 in southern and 115 to 93 in “other” states respectively.