News:Union Minister for Health along with several State Health Ministers launched Surakshit Matritva Aashwasan (SUMAN) initiative for Zero Preventable Maternal and Newborn Deaths.
Facts:
About SUMAN:
- The scheme aims to provide dignified and quality health care at no cost to every woman and newborn visiting a public health facility in order to bring down maternal and infant mortality rates in the country,
- Under the scheme, pregnant women, mothers up to 6 months after delivery and all sick newborns will be able to avail free healthcare benefits such as four antenatal check-ups and six home-based newborn care visits.
- The scheme will enable zero expense access to the identification and management of complications during and after the pregnancy.
- The government will also provide free transport from home to health institutions.
- The pregnant women will also have a zero expense delivery and C-section facility in case of complications at public health facilities.
Additional information:
Maternal mortality rate:
- Maternal mortality refers to the number of maternal deaths which occur due to pregnancy or as a result of a complication of the same.
- Maternal mortality rate(MMR) is taken as the number of recorded maternal deaths, for every 1 lakh live births.
- According to the government,India’s maternal mortality rate has declined from 254 per 1,00,000 live births in 2004-06 to 130 in 2014-16.
Infant mortality rate:
- Infant mortality rate(IMR) is the number of deaths per 1,000 live births of children under one year of age.
- Between 2001 and 2016, the infant mortality rate has also come down from 66 per 1,000 live births to 34.
