Kerala tops in Maternal, Child health
- Kerala has again emerged on top in terms of maternal and child health
- The State has recorded the lowest Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) of 30 (per one lakh live births) in the country
- This puts Kerala way ahead of the national MMR of 103.
About findings of SRS bulletin
- According to the latest Sample Registration System (SRS) special bulletin on maternal mortality in India (2017-19) Kerala’s MMR has dropped by 12 points.
- It was brought out by the office of the Registrar General of India.
- The last SRS bulletin (2015-17) had put the State’s MMR at 42 (later adjusting it to 43).
Initiatives taken by Kerala to drop MMR
- Decade long sustained efforts at properly assessing the cause of maternal mortality in the State and taking up targeted initiatives to tackle each of these.
- Developing the Quality Standards in Obstetric Care, in partnership with the NICE International and leading specialists in 2012-13.
- Focussing on the management of some of the common causes of maternal deaths -postpartum haemorrhage (PPH), pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH), sepsis, and amniotic fluid embolism.
- Doing Confidential Review of Maternal Deaths by KFOG since 2004-05 which laid the foundation for all maternal health improvement initiatives.
- It was strengthened by maternal near-miss audits in all districts to analyse the critical events which resulted in near zero maternal deaths.
- Remaining only state to act upon the operational guidelines released by the Union Health Ministry for Maternal Near Miss Review (MNMR) in 2014.
Way forward
- Improvement of the health system’s emergency or rapid response during obstetric emergencies, especially in secondary care hospitals, including provision of emergency transport system, could go a long way in reducing maternal deaths further in Kerala.
- Such good practices should be adopted in whole country to reduce overall maternal mortality ratio and achieving commitment to Sustainable Development goal 3 of reducing the maternal mortality ratio to less than 70 per 100,000 live births.