UNICEF released the State of World’s Children Report- 2009 with some shocking findings regarding maternal mortality status in India. Avoidable complications during child birth are
killing 78,000 women in India every year.
One woman dies from complications related to pregnancy and childbirth every seven minutes. One million children born in India are dying every year even before they become 28 days old. A child born in India is 14 times more likely to die during the first 28 days than one born in the US or UK.
The maternal mortality rate of India stands at 301 per 100,000 births.
It is highest in Uttar Pradesh at 517 and
lowest in Kerala at 110.For
Bihar it is 371. An Indian woman is 350 times more likely to die in childbirth or from pregnancy –related complications than women in America or England. For every mother who dies, 20 others suffer pregnancy related illness. Around 10 million women annually experience such adverse outcomes. Despite an increase in institutional deliveries, 60% of pregnant women still deliver their babies at home. In India more than 2/3 of all maternal deaths occur in a handful of states- UP, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Jharkand, Orissa, MP, Chattisgarh, Rajasthan and Assam. In UP one in every 42 women faces risk of maternal death compared to 1 in 500 women in Kerala
The main medical causes of maternal deaths are:
Abortion: 8%
Obstructed labor: 5%
Hypertensive disorders: 5%
Sepsis: 11%
Hemorrhage: 38%
Other conditions: 34%
In India the states with the top five neonatal mortality(Early neonatal mortality refers to a death of a live-born baby within the first seven days of life, while late neonatal mortality covers the time after 7 days until before 28 days. The sum of these two represents the neonatal mortality) rates are
Orissa- 52 deaths /1000 live births Madhya Pradesh- 51/1000 live births Uttar Pradesh- 46/1000 live births Rajasthan- 45 /1000 live births Chattisgarh- 43/1000 live births
