The maternal mortality ratio in India declined from 122 in 2015-17 to 113 in 2016-18, a 7.4 per cent decline, according to a special bulletin released by the Registrar General of India.

India is on track to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) of 70 per lakh live births by 2030 and National Health Policy (NHP) target of 100 per live births by 2020.

The number of states which have achieved the SDG target has now risen from three to five. These five states are Kerala (43), Maharashtra (46) Tamil Nadu (60), Telangana (63) and Andhra Pradesh (65).

There are 11 states that have achieved the target of MMR set by the NHP which includes the above five states and Jharkhand (71), Gujarat (75), Haryana (91), Karnataka (92), West Bengal (98) and Uttarakhand (99).

Three states — Punjab (129), Bihar (149) and Odisha (150) — have maternal mortality ratio in between 100-150, while for five states, Chhattisgarh (159), Rajasthan (164), Madhya Pradesh (173), Uttar Pradesh (197) and Assam (215), the MMR is above 150

Rajasthan, which has shown the maximum decline of 22 points in MMR, Uttar Pradesh 19 points, Odisha 18, Bihar 16 points and Madhya Pradesh 15 points.

LEARNING WITH TIMES/WITHOUT CLASSES/FROM HOME/BASICS

Maternal death is when a woman dies during her pregnancy or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy

IMR: The death of a baby before his or her first birthday is called infant mortality. The infant mortality rate is the number of infant deaths that occur for every 1,000 live births.

NNR:A neonatal death is defined as a death during the first 28 days of life (0-27 days) per 1000 live births

TFR:The total fertility rate in a specific year is defined as the total number of children that would be born to each woman if she were to live to the end of her child-bearing years and give birth to children in alignment with the prevailing age-specific fertility rates.

The National Rural Health Mission:Reducing maternal and child mortality are among the most important goals of the National Rural Health Mission. (NRHM) ,launched on 12th April 2005, is a National effort at ensuring effective healthcare through a range of interventions at individual, household, community, and most critically at the health system levels.

Maternity Benefit Scheme: Scheme to provide financial aid of Rs 6,000 to pregnant women who undergo institutional delivery for hospital admission. The sum is also meant to help with their child’s vaccination, as well as nutritional food.

Janani Surakhsa Yojana (JSY) which is a cash-based incentive of Rs 1,400 for institutional deliveries