Maternal Deaths and Utilization of Health Care Services in India

An attempt has been made to explore status of maternal health and utilisation of maternal health care services among maternal death reported households in India and its regions. District Level Household and Facility Survey (2007-08) data reiterates, maternal deaths are significantly high in rural areas especially in high focus Non-North Eastern States. Results show inverse relationship between economic status and maternal deaths. There is wide disparity in maternal mortality ratio within various regions in India with highest as 390 in Assam and lowest as 81 in Kerala per 100000 live births. 56 percent deaths were reported during pregnancy. Contraceptive coverage in households reported maternal deaths is at the low level and moreover in the same household the usage of modern methods of contraception is also low this is clearly indicative of the low coverage of birth spacing methods that exposed women to repeated unwanted births hence, increasing risk of maternal morbidity and mortality.