Spotlighting maternal health: why care after delivery is crucial
While India has significantly reduced maternal mortality rates, there is a critical gap in postnatal care for new mothers after they leave the hospital. Current health indicators focus on initial check-ups, often failing to track the health of mothers during the high-risk period between 8 and 42 days postpartum.
Why it matters
Addressing the lack of comprehensive postnatal care is essential to further reducing maternal mortality and ensuring the long-term health of women.
The scene is familiar. Five days after a caesarean section, a woman in one of our cities is at home with a newborn, a painful surgical wound, and a folder of papers. The papers list the baby’s feeding schedule, immunisation dates, and the paediatrician’s phone number. There is one line about her own care, a follow-up visit in six weeks. She is bleeding more than she expected. She has not slept longer than ninety minutes at a stretch. Her mother tells her this is normal. Her mother-in-law tells her this is normal. It is extremely common. But “common” does not mean harmless.
India has done something remarkable in maternal health. The maternal mortality ratio has fallen from 254 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2004–2006 to 87 in 2022–2024 , a reduction of nearly two-thirds. The National Family Health Survey-6 (NFHS-6) records institutional births at 90.6%.
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