The death of a 36-year-old woman and her unborn child at Karakkamandapam in Thiruvananthapuram, following attempted child birth at home, has suddenly focussed all attention on the small proportion of home births happening across Kerala, which mar the impeccable record that the State has maintained in maternal and child health.
The State takes much pride in having achieved near 100% institutional deliveries. The proportion of institutional deliveries in the State has been consistently above 99.5% since 2005. During the National Family Health Survey-4 (NFHS, 2015-16) and NFHS-5 (2019-20), it was 99.8 %.
Kerala’s low maternal mortality ratio (19 as per the last SRS data, but the Health department reckons that it is 26, per one lakh live births) was achieved through consistent efforts at developing safe delivery care services and implementing quality improvement standards in obstetric practices across the State, to identify and address all probable causes of maternal mortality.
