Steps taken for Reducing Maternal Mortality
Steps taken for Reducing Maternal Mortality
As per the latest bulletin on Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) 2021-23, released by the Registrar General of India, the MMR of the country is 88 per lakh live births. The State/UT -wise details of MMR is placed at Annexure I.
Under the National Health Mission (NHM), the Government of India has undertaken various initiatives to reduce maternal mortality across all States and Union Territories, including rural and underserved areas of the country, to achieve the maternal health targets along with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These are provided below:
Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) is a demand promotion and conditional cash transfer scheme for promoting institutional delivery.
Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakram (JSSK) entitles all pregnant woman delivering in public health institutions to have absolutely free and no expense delivery, including caesarean section.
The entitlements include free drugs, consumables, free diet during stay, free diagnostics, free transportation and free blood transfusion, if required. Similar entitlements are also in place for sick infants up to one year of age.
Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan (PMSMA) provides pregnant women a fixed day, free of cost, assured and quality antenatal check up by a Specialist/Medical Officer on the 9th day of every month.
Extended PMSMA strategy ensures quality antenatal care (ANC) to pregnant women, especially to high-risk pregnant (HRP) women and individual HRP tracking until a safe delivery is achieved by means of financial incentivization for the identified high-risk pregnant women and accompanying ASHA for extra 3 visits over and above the PMSMA visit.
LaQshya improves the quality of care in labour room and maternity operation theatres to ensure that pregnant women receive respectful and quality care during delivery and immediate post-partum.
Surakshit Matritva Aashwasan (SUMAN) provides assured, dignified, respectful and quality healthcare at no cost and zero tolerance for denial of services for every pregnant woman and new-born visiting public health facilities to end all preventable maternal and newborn deaths.
Optimizing Postnatal Care aims to strengthen the quality of post-natal care by laying emphasis on detection of danger signs in mothers and incentivization of Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) for prompt detection, referral & treatment of such high-risk postpartum mothers.
Monthly Village Health, Sanitation and Nutrition Day (VHSND) an outreach activity at Anganwadi centres ensures service provision of maternal and childcare in convergence with the ICDS.
Outreach camps are provisioned for improving the reach of health care services especially in tribal and hard to reach areas. This platform is used to increase awareness for the Maternal & Child health services, community mobilization as well as to track high risk pregnancies.
Mother and Child Protection (MCP) Card and Safe Motherhood Booklet are distributed to the pregnant women for educating them on diet, rest, danger signs of pregnancy, benefit schemes and institutional deliveries.
Strengthening of infrastructure, including functionalization of First Referral Units (FRUs), setting up of Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Wings, operationalization of Obstetric High Dependency Units & Intensive Care Units (Obst. HDU & ICU), establishment of Birth Waiting Homes (BWHs) in difficult terrain, remote and tribal areas for improved access to healthcare facilities and promoting institutional delivery.
Institutional deliveries and antenatal care play a crucial role in reducing maternal mortality in the country. Deliveries conducted in health institutions with the assistance of skilled birth attendants (SBA) help in managing complications that may arise at any time during pregnancy, childbirth, or the postnatal period.
Antenatal care ensures early registration of pregnancy, regular health check-ups, screening and identification of high-risk pregnancies, provision of essential supplements such as Iron & Folic Acid, Calcium & Vitamin D3 and counselling on birth preparedness and complication readiness, enabling timely referral and management of complications.
The number of institutional deliveries conducted in last three years is placed at Annexure II.
The Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, Smt. Anupriya Patel stated this in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.
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SR
HFW/Steps Taken for Reducing Maternal Mortality/13th March 2026/1
Annexure referred to in reply to part (a) of Lok Sabha Unstarred Q. No. 3474 to be answered on 13.03.2026
Annexure-l
State/ UT -wise Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) over the last five years as per Sample Registration Survey (SRS)
S. No.
India/States
SRS
2019-21
SRS
2020-22
SRS
2021-23
India
93
88
88
1
Andhra Pradesh
46
47
30
2
Assam
167
125
110
3
Bihar
100
91
104
4
Jharkhand
51
50
54
5
Gujarat
53
55
51
6
Haryana
106
89
89
7
Karnataka
63
58
68
8
Kerala
20
18
30
9
Madhya Pradesh
175
159
142
10
Chhattisgarh
132
141
146
11
Maharashtra
38
36
36
12
Odisha
135
136
153
13
Punjab
98
92
90
14
Rajasthan
102
87
86
15
Tamil Nadu
49
38
35
16
Telangana
45
50
59
17
Uttar Pradesh
151
141
141
18
Uttarakhand
100
104
91
19
West Bengal
109
105
104
20
Other States
71
81
86
Source – Sample Registration System (SRS), RGI Report
Annexure-II
The number of Institutional deliveries conducted in the country in last three years i.e FY 2022-23, FY 2023-24 and FY 2024-25
S no
Institutional deliveries
FY 2022-23
FY 2023-24
FY 2024-25
India
20165533
19799153