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Title : Need to address the issues related to maternal health and uphold the right of health and nutrition services to women.
SHRIMATI SUPRIYA SULE (BARAMATI): Presently vast areas of women’s right relating to their lives and well-being remain neglected. Women’s right to healthcare, especially maternal health services is one such area. An estimated 254 women die for every 1,00,000 live births each year, and the number of maternal deaths in India is the highest globally at around seventy thousand preventable deaths of women in their most productive age.
Data from the National Family Health Survey – 3 (2005-06) shows that maternal health and nutrition services unfortunately do not reach disadvantaged population such as to very poor, those in rural or remote areas, the Scheduled Castes and Tribes, and women from some minority communities. This makes such women more vulnerable to ill-health and death which is an issue of discrimination, inequality and social injustice.
Recent studies and documentation from six states also indicate that even if women did go to hospitals for delivery, there is no guarantee that they would be saved from illness or death.
I urge upon the Government to pay attention to address issues related to maternal health and uphold their right to health and nutrition services.