Despite many schemes launched for the antenatal care by the government, the maternal mortality rate remains high in India. The reason behind this high rate is not just poverty. Lack of cohesiveness between medical agencies accounts for the loss of many young lives RITA, a 16-year-old adivasi woman from Jharkhand, was pregnant for the first time. She had multiple problems during her pregnancy – malaria, jaundice, swelling of feet and face and night blindness, but her antenatal care was restricted to receiving one dose of tetanus toxoid.

She died of eclampsia (a condition to which younger women are more vulnerable) and which could have been prevented had the risk factor been identified in the antenatal period. An analysis of 124 maternal deaths from January 2012, to December 2013, by a coalition of 21 NGOs in 10 states of the country shows that 78 of the 124 women who died were very young, less than 25 years. While it is true that most pregnancies occur in this age group, the loss of young lives during a routine reproductive process cannot be condoned. The civil society report, poignantly called ‘Dead Women Talking,’ shows that 26 women were between 16 to 20 years.

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