Estimation of Maternal Mortality through Excess Fertility in India

The level of maternal mortality is an indicator of disparity in access to appropriate health care and nutrition services particularly during pregnancy and childbirth. India has made an appreciable progress in improving the overall health status but it is far from satisfaction. The pace of decline of maternal mortality on has been quite low. The maternal mortality is not only a health issue but also a matter of social injustice and discrimination. The National Family Health Survey 1992-93 was provide the national level estimate of maternal mortality but due to the scanty sample size state level estimates could not be produced therefore several indirect methods have been proposed for estimation of maternal mortality.
The fertility beyond age 35 years (i.e. excess fertility) is risky for both women and child and it leads to miscarriage, maternal & child mortality thus in this study an attempt has been made to relate excess fertility to the maternal death using simple regression technique. The proposed predictor variable explains 85 percent to the maternal mortality. Estimates obtained through proposed procedure are quite close to the observed value of maternal mortality. Also maternal mortality is estimated for the different categories of the population.