New Delhi: The Narendra Modi-led central government on Wednesday informed that there is significant decline in the Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) in the nation.

Union Minister Mansukh Mandaviyapraised the progress in effectively lowering the Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) and stated in a tweet: Significant Decline in the Maternal Mortality Ratio from 130 in 2014-16 to 97 per lakh live births in 2018-20. The various healthcare initiatives of PM @NarendraModi Ji’s Govt to ensure quality maternal and reproductive care helped tremendously in bringing down MMR.

As per the Special Bulletin on MMR released by the Registrar General of India (RGI), the Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) of India has improved further by a spectacular 6 points and now stands at 97/ lakh live births.

What is Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR)? 

The Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) is defined as the number of maternal deaths during a given time period per 100,000 live births.

Upon achieving this, India has accomplished the National Health Policy (NHP) target for MMR of less than 100/lakh live births and is on the right track to achieve the SDG target of MMR less than 70/ lakh live births by 2030.

The outstanding progress made in terms of the number of states which have achieved Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target, the number has now risen from six to eight leading with Kerala (19), followed by Maharashtra (33), then Telangana (43) and Andhra Pradesh (45), subsequently Tamil Nadu (54), Jharkhand (56), Gujarat (57) and lastly Karnataka (69).

Since 2014, under the National Health Mission (NHM), India has made a concerted effort to provide accessible quality maternal and newborn health services and minimize preventable maternal deaths.

In a press release, the central government said, “The National Health Mission has made significant investments to ensure provision of healthcare services, particularly for effective implementation of the maternal health programs to accomplish the specified MMR targets.”

“India’s outstanding efforts in successfully lowering the MMR ratio provides an optimistic outlook on attaining SDG target of MMR less than 70 much before the stipulated time of 2030 and becoming known as a nation that provides respectful maternal care,” it further added.