Gwalior: There has been no appreciable decline in the number of women dying at childbirth in India since 1990, quite// unlike other nations like Bangladesh, Gautemala and Morocco that have managed to arrest this trend.

India's Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR), the number of maternal deaths per 100,000 live births, was 301 in 2002 and 2003. According to the Sample Registration Survey (SRS), 70,000 women die every year in India but UNICEF says the number crosses 100,000.

'The real concern for the high MMR in India is not lack of resources but failure in the system,' said Aparajita Gogoi, national coordinator of the White Ribbon Alliance (WRA) that works on issues concerning safe motherhood.

Gogoi was speaking at a workshop on maternal mortality organised by UNICEF in Gwalior last week.

Talking about the successes in reducing MMR in other countries, Gogoi said there are various facets that have been worked upon in those countries, which if looked into here would bring down the number of maternal deaths to a great extent.

Increasing availability of emergency obstetric care (EmOC) facilities, skilled birth attendants, maternity waiting homes and financial accessibility, which have been adopted in countries like Zimbabwe, Indonesia, Bolivia and Honduras have greatly helped. These nations have been able to reduce their MMR by 52 percent.

In India, only 40 percent women have access to skilled birth attendance. And according to the National Family Health Survey (NFHS), only one in six women receive post-natal care when 60 percent of the maternal deaths occur after the delivery of the child.

Promoting accountability is another factor that, when looked into seriously, brought down the number of maternal deaths in China from 1,500 per 100,000 live births to less than 200 in the year 2000.

'Accountability is very important. No one is held responsible when a mother dies ... most
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