According to WHO, nearly five women die every hour in India from complications developed during childbirth, with heavy blood loss caused by haemorrhage being a major factor. Nearly 45,000 mothers die due to causes related to childbirth every year in India which accounts for 17 per cent of such deaths globally, according to the global health body.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said the major cause of maternal deaths is Post-Partum Haemorrhage (PPH), which is often defined as the loss of more than 500-1,000 ml of blood within the first 24 hours following childbirth. It further said that India accounts for around 17 per cent of the burden of global maternal deaths and the biggest cause of maternal deaths is post-partum Haemorrhage (37 per cent).

WHO is providing technical support for revision of guidelines and scaling up of the maternal death surveillance and response system besides strengthening the quality of training for provision of skilled birth attendance at the delivery sites while also optimising nursing care in the facilities.

Minister of State for Health Shripad Yesso Naik, in a written reply in Parliament, had recently said MMR of India has shown a decline from 212 per 1,00,000 live births in 2007-09 to 167 per 1,00,000 live births in 2011-13, as per the latest report of the Registrar General of India, Sample Registration System (RGI-SRS).