Adequately spaced pregnancies can boost maternal & child health outcomes: Centre

New Delhi, July 19: Adequately spaced pregnancies can boost maternal and child health outcomes, said Anupriya Patel, Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) on Friday at a meeting with public health experts. "This will reduce health risks and empower women and families to make informed choices about their reproductive health," she said.

Citing the launch of initiatives such as the Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan (PMSMA), extended PMSMA, identification of high risk pregnancy in PMSMA, 'Anaemia Mukt Bharat Abhiyan', and the Postpartum Family Planning Programme (postpartum Intrauterine Contraceptive Device (IUCD) and post abortion IUCD), she emphasised that the government has always been conscious of these issues.

She further added that "the government's efforts have resulted in a reduction of maternal mortality from over 130 to 97 per one lakh births." "The task of achieving Viksit Bharat by 2047 cannot be done without empowering our women. Healthy timing and spacing between pregnancies are very important for women’s health," the Minister added, noting that some states also involved men in family planning.

While India has already achieved a total fertility rate (TFR) of 2.0 with 31 States UTs achieving replacement level, there is a need for an “effective strategy to bring the TFR under replacement level in the five remaining states”, said Aradhana Patnaik, Additional Secretary, and Mission Director (NHM), MoHFW.

Experts at the event also shed light on various causes of maternal mortality, nutritional deficiencies due to inadequate spacing between pregnancies, and the importance of spacing between children. To achieve successful desired outcomes, the Minister emphasised the need to identify and map regions, districts, and blocks with low uptake of family planning services.

She also suggested low demand for modern contraceptives, high unmet needs, and similar state appropriate criteria, and saturating them with family planning services, as well as enhancing social and behaviour change communication, and involving front line workers in these efforts.