Maternal Mortality in India: Causes and Healthcare Service Use Based on a Nationally Representative Survey

Authors: Prabhat Jha, Ann L. Montgomery, Usha Ram, Rajesh Kumar

On January 15, 2014, DCP3 series editor, Prabhat Jha, published the next installment in the Million Death Study. The PLoS One study, entitled “Maternal Mortality in India: Causes and Healthcare Service Use Based on a Nationally Representative Survey,” explores the distributional causes of maternal mortality in India based on the 2004-2006 Sample Registration System.

Dr. Jha and his colleagues, located in both Canada and India, found that three-quarters of maternal deaths in India occur in the rural areas of poorer states. There was no significant difference in cause of maternal mortality between richer and poorer states, and two-thirds of women died in the process of seeking medical care. Differential access to healthcare services in rural areas was only noted in poorer states, not in the richer states.

To read more about The Million Deaths Study, please visit Center for Global Health Research website.