India makes good progress in reducing Maternal Mortality Rate

According to WHO-UNICEF-UNFPA-World Bank report 63,000 of estimated 3, 58,000 deaths due to complications during pregnancy and child births worldwide occur in India.  That means one in Six women who dies due to pregnancy-related causes worldwide live in India. There are few facts deserving greater attention.

1.    MMR in India fell from 570 per lakh births in 1990 to 230 in 2008, a decline of 59%.
2.  Uncertainty of estimation, possibly MMR could range between 150 to 380 in 2008.
3.   Estimate of 230 implies an annual decline in MMR of 4.9% between 1990 to 2008, only slightly below the 5.5% annual decline needed to achieve the ambitious Millennium Development Goal of 75% reduction in MMR by 2015.