A study on psycho-social factors preventing Indian women from seeking institutional and assisted birth

INTRODUCTION ’Five women in India die every hour during childbirth: World Health Organization (WHO). Nearly 45,000 mothers die due to causes related to childbirth every year in India, as per WHO. The number of deaths in India during childbirth accounts for 17 per cent of such deaths globally.’ The Indian Express, New Delhi, 16th June 2016. Maternal Health is an important aspect for the development of any country in terms of increasing equity & reducing poverty. The survival and well-being of mothers is not only important in their own right but are also central to solving large broader, economic, social and developmental challenges. A woman’s death is more than a personal tragedy, ―countless‖, ’ it represents an enormous cost to her nation, her community, and her family. Any social and economic investment that has been made in her life is lost.’ (NRHM, Mother and Child Tracking System,2016). Maternal death is defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as ＂the death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy, irrespective of the duration and site of the pregnancy, from any cause related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management but not from accidental or incidental causes.＂ The two measures of maternal death are the maternal mortality ratio (MMR), maternal mortality rate, lifetime risk of maternal death and proportion of maternal deaths among deaths of women of reproductive years (PM),