India has witnessed a significant improvement in key maternal and child health indicators between 2014 and 2021, Union Health Ministry said in a statement here on Saturday.
Citing the Sample Registration System (SRS) Report 2021 released by the Registrar General of India (RGI) released recently, the Ministry noted that maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) has declined by 37 points from 130 per lakh live births in 2014-16 to 93 in 2019-21.
Similarly, the downward trend of child mortality indicators continued, it said underscoring the effectiveness of national health initiatives, policy reforms, and community engagement efforts dedicated to safeguarding the well-being of mothers and children across India.
The Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) has dropped from 39 per 1000 live births in 2014 to 27 per 1000 live births in 2021 while the Neonatal Mortality Rate (NMR) has declined from 26 per 1000 live births to 19 per 1000 live births during the same period. Under-Five Mortality Rate (U5MR) has also improved, dropping from 45 in 2014 to 31 per 1000 live births in 2021.
The Sex Ratio at Birth also improved from 899 to 913 between 2014 and 2021, getting better, respectively. Total Fertility Rate is consistent at 2.0 in 2021, which is a notable progress from 2.3 in 2014.
The SRS 2021 Report further said that eight states have already attained the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) target of MMR (less than or equal to 70 by 2030 with Kerala (20), Maharashtra (38), Telangana (45), Andhra Pradesh (46), Tamil Nadu (49), Jharkhand (51), Gujarat (53), and Karnataka (63) among the top performers.
The Ministry also said that 12 states and UT have already attained SDG target of U5MR (less than 25 by 2030): Kerala (8), Delhi (14), Tamil Nadu (14), Jammu & Kashmir (16), Maharashtra (16), West Bengal (20), Karnataka (21), Punjab (22), Telangana (22), Himachal Pradesh (23), Andhra Pradesh (24) and Gujarat (24).
Besides, six states and one UT have already attained the SDG target of NMR (less than 12 by 2030): Kerala (4), Delhi (8), Tamil Nadu (9), Maharashtra (11), Jammu & Kashmir (12) and Himachal Pradesh (12).
Further, India's progress in the reduction of maternal and child mortality indicators has outpaced global averages, the Ministry said in its statement.
In this direction, the Ministry cited the current United Nations Maternal Mortality Estimation Inter-agency Group (UN-MMEIG) Report 2000-2023 which said that India's MMR has reduced by 23 points from 2020 to 2023.
By this achievement, MMR of India has now declined by 86 per cent compared to the global reduction of 48 per cent over the past 33 years from 1990 to 2023, the statement said.
Significant achievement has been highlighted in the reduction of Child Mortality in India in the United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN-IGME) Report 2024.
The UN-IGME report said India achieved a 78 per cent decline in the Under-Five Mortality Rate (U5MR), surpassing the global reduction of 61 per cent; 70 per cent decline in the NMR compared to 54% globally, and 71 per cent decline in the IMR compared to 58 per cent globally, over the past 33 years from 1990 to 2023.
