Rising Maternal Mortality in Mumbai Metropolitan Region: Need for Action

Data from the past suggest that maternal deaths mostly occurred due to obstetric complications, like postpartum hemorrhage, sepsis or maternal morbidities, like eclampsia and cardiac diseases. This trend, however, has changed over a period of time in developing countries, like India where increasing number of maternal deaths have been attributed in recent years to preventable infectious causes, such as hepatitis, tuberculosis and malaria. Rising maternal mortality ratio (MMR) due to infections indicates there are several loop holes in the basic healthcare system at various levels in their prevention and control. Although maternal mortality worldwide is decreasing progressively, curbing maternal deaths in certain developing regions of the World including few parts of India and Mumbai Metropolitan Region at a faster rate is essential in order to achieve the United Nations Fifth Millennium Development Goal of 2015.