Assessment of Maternal Mortality Ratio in Pre and Post National Rural Health Mission Period in India

Abstract

Maternal Health plays a vital role in the development of a country. Every country aimed to reduce MMR to the lower extent. In India National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) aimed to reduce maternal mortality ratio (MMR) to less than 100 per lakh live births. NRHM implemented in 2005 since then the program has been trying to come over the huge burden of MMR. This paper uses secondary data from Sample Registration System. The data is available from 1997-1998 to 2011-13. Hence, comparison was made between the pre and post NRHM period. The overall decline in MMR in pre NRHM period was -36.1 percent against -34.2 percent in post NRHM Period. Although, the difference is not significant. The state with highest MMR and lowest MMR has changed but the disparity between the states has remained almost constant. At the conclusion, the pace of MMR decline has not accelerate after NRHM implantation and disparity ratio has not reduced indicating that there is a dire need of some more effective healthcare programmes especially for the pregnant women. Keywords: Maternal mortality ratio; Disparity in maternal mortality ratio; National rural health mission; India