India yet to achieve the MMR target of 109 per 1, 00,000 live births

According to the National Health Profile-2015 release by JP Nadda recently, India is short of 31 points to achieve the Millenium Development Goal (MDG) target of reducing maternal mortality rate to 109 per 1,00,000 live births. Though India has considerably comes down from a whopping 437 per 1,00,000 live birth to reach 140 per 1,00,000 live births, it still falls short of the MDG target set earlier.

In India, "considerable" progress has been made in the field of basic universal education, gender equality in education, global economic growth and indicators related to health, the report said.

National Health Profile-2015 was published by the Central Bureau of Health Intelligence (CBHI).

The report further said that in India, infant mortality rate (IMR) has reduced by nearly 50 per cent during 1990-2012 and the present level is at 42.

"As per the historical trend, the IMR is likely to reach 40 deaths per 1,000 live births, missing the MDG target of 27 with a considerable margin. However, ...IMR is declining at a sharper rate in the recent years...," it said.

The report further said that Under Five Mortality Rate (U5MR) has declined from an estimated level of 125 per 1,000 live births in 1990 to 52 in 2012. Given to reduce U5MR to 42 per 1,000 live births by 2015, India tends to reach 49 by 2015 as per the historical trend, missing the target by seven percentage points.

"However, considering the continuance of the sharper annual rate of decline witnessed in the recent years, India is likely to achieve the target," the executive summary of the report said.

The MDGs which include eight goals were framed to address the world's major development challenges with health and its related areas prime focus.