This week, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced – quoting the World Health Organisation (WHO) – that India was free of maternal and neo-natal tetanus, the state of maternal health in the eastern state of Jharkhand indicates the long road still ahead in the country’s dark spots. Modi was speaking at the just-concluded 24-nation Call to Action Summit, which discussed how to end preventable maternal and infant deaths, particularly in high-risk areas globally, including Jharkhand. Since its birth in March 2000, Jharkhand has seen its maternal mortality ratio (MMR), or maternal deaths per 100,000 live births, improve from 261 in 2007-09 to 219 in 2011-12 due to improved access to healthcare. But this is 41 points higher than the national MMR average of 178 in 2011-12, worse than Myanmar and Nepal and about the same as Laos and Papua and New Guinea, according to WHO data.

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