June 3, 2013
BANGALORE: A new infamy has botched Karnataka's claim to be socio-economically well-off: it has the highest maternal mortality rate among the southern states.
June 3, 2013
BANGALORE: A new infamy has botched Karnataka's claim to be socio-economically well-off: it has the highest maternal mortality rate among the southern states.
Experts blame it on women in the high-risk category giving birth. The high-risk category includes women giving birth at older age, those having children at a tender age, women with small birth intervals (minimum gap between kids) and those with higher birth orders (giving birth to too many children).
"Assistance from health providers is of the best quality in states like Kerala and Tamil Nadu, close to 100%; but in Karnataka, it is only 85%," says KNM Raju, an independent researcher who analyzed the data available from the National Family Health Survey data and the Sample Registration System data of the government of India. Figures were also taken from the 2011 Census figures, with the missing figures being taken in from the 2001 Census data. The other states covered by the survey were Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.
Raju, former HOD at the Population Research Centre, ISEC, did his research independently. He hopes to make his analysis available in public domain so that the Karnataka government can initiate action to bring down the maternal mortality rate in the state.
Rural women at risk
"It is largely lack of quality healthcare in the rural and semi-urban set-ups that has contributed largely to the high maternal mortality figures in the state. In the urban areas, the facilities in place are definitely better," says Dr Vidya Desai, gynaecologist at a leading city hospital.
Agrees Dr Jeremy D Souza, another gynaecologist, who explained that women in urban areas had options compared to their rural counterparts. "There is opportunity to escalate a matter and take it to the next level in the urban areas. If one government healthcare centre does not treat the patient well enough, there is always an option to shift her out to a private clinic and thus save the mother-to-be. The support system in high-risk pregnancies is quite good in urban areas which is virtually absent for our rural women.''
Demographic change
"It is unusual that a state like Karnataka, which is much ahead of its southern counterparts in terms of development, is way behind when it comes to taking good care of the women giving birth. It is more of a demographic change as women are increasingly choosing to settle down first and get married later. Eventually they are pushing child birth also to a much later stage in their lives, beyond their prime," says Raju.
WOMEN AT RISK
State Deaths per lakh births:
- Karnataka – 178
- Andhra Pradesh – 134
- Kerala – 81
- Tamil Nadu – 97
- India – 212
Courtesy: TOI
