Karnataka’s Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) has declined from 108 per lakh live births in 2014-16 to 97 per lakh live births in 2016-17. The MMR is a significant indicator that defines the public health of a State.
It is the only State in the country that has seen more than 10% decline in MMR, indicating that the number of women dying during childbirth has come down significantly, according to the latest Sample Registration System (SRS) 2015-17 bulletin for Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) released by the Registrar General of India on Thursday.
However, Karnataka continues to remain at 11th position in the country and fifth among southern States. While Kerala tops the list with the lowest MMR at 42 per lakh live births, Assam has the highest at 229 per lakh live births.
Attributing the decline to the collective efforts by health workers who have created awareness on institutional deliveries, Rajkumar N., State Deputy Director (Maternal Health) told The Hindu that it was a moment of pride for Karnataka as it has achieved the highest percentage decline (10.2%) in MMR. “Currently in Karnataka, we have 98.5% institutional deliveries and the challenge is to make it cent percent,” he said.
This has been possible due to the effective implementation of popular schemes such as Tayi Bhagya, Tayi Bhagya Plus, Prasuthi Araike, Ayushman Bharat Arogya Karnataka, Madilu, Janani Suraksha Yojana, and Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakrama, he said.
“Over and above these schemes, the State has exhibited effective monitoring and evaluation of the maternal health programme at all levels through regular reviews by top officials and Ministers. While we are on the right track now, our endeavour would be to reduce maternal deaths still further by effectively implementing the maternal health schemes,” Dr. Rajkumar said.
Quoting this year’s Civil Registration System (CRS) data (the report of which is yet to be released), he said, “As per CRS figures, our MMR is 65 per lakh live births now. Our vision is to bring this down to 50% in the next one year,” he said.
Maternal mortalities are high in districts like Kalaburagi, Raichur, Gadag, Koppal, Yadgir, Bidar, Vijayapura, Bagalkot, Ballari, Davangere, and Shivamogga. “This is mainly because of poor health-seeking behaviour among people here. We are working on increasing institutional deliveries here through intensified awareness campaigns,” he added.
Meanwhile, Dinesh Baswal, Union Joint Commissioner (Maternal Health), has congratulated Karnataka for the highest percentage decline in MMR.
