India sees 1 Maternal Death Every 10 Minutes

Maternal deaths are defined as the number of women who die during pregnancy or within 42 days of the termination of pregnancy. India has reduced MMR significantly from 437 per one lakh live births in 1999 to 212 now, but needs to hasten the pace under National Rural Health Mission to achieve related MDG.

The MDG Report 2012 points out that an estimated 2, 87,000 maternal deaths occurred in 2010 worldwide. This represents a decline of 47 percent from 1990 when the MDGs were set.

"Of the total maternal death burden worldwide, the sub- Saharan Africa accounts for 56 percent and South Asia accounts for 29 percent. Together the two regions made up for 85 percent of the global maternal death burden in 2010", states the Report released by noted economist Jayati Ghosh of Jawahar Lal Nehru University.

Ghosh flagged another important issue on the health front saying poor child nutrition remained a massive challenge for India where 42 percent children under five years of age were underweight.

"This is the largest proportion of underweight children anywhere in the world. Nutrition deprivation is a huge issue which the Government must address because it affects a child`s ability to study and lead a productive life later, Together with food insecurity and employment insecurity, nutrition deprivation to me is a big problem for India. The situation is alarming", she said.

As many as 237 million Indians are still living in hunger though India has managed to meet the first MDG of reducing people in extreme poverty by half between 1990 and 2015. Poverty has declined in India from 51 percent in 1990 to 37 percent now, but hunger remains a challenge, especially when it affects child nutrition.

(With PTI inputs)