Determination of the relative importance of factors affecting maternal healthcare in India

Abstract

Maternal health care is a wider term, it is a concept that encompasses family planning, pre conception, a prenatal and postnatal care. In Indian scenario these phases are not very well defined. India has accounted for at least quarter of maternal mortality since the beginning of the Safe Motherhood Initiatives. India’s goal was to reduce the maternal mortality to less than 100 per 100000 live births. In 2010–12, India’s maternal mortality ratio was estimated as 178 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births. In 2010, 19 per cent of the 287,000 maternal deaths estimated worldwide took place in India according to the Word Health Organization. In this scenario it is crucial to identify the most important factor that affects maternal healthcare in India. The present work intends to study the status of maternal healthcare in India from secondary sources, identify the factors affecting maternal healthcare in India and obtain the relative weightage of factors for maternal healthcare by using Multi Criteria decision making method like Analytical Hierarchy process. This evaluation gives an indication of the relative importance of the Maternal Healthcare factors which helps the authorities to give priorities to various factors. So that Maternal Healthcare schemes can be effectively implemented.