Explore the Role of Homoeopathy in Maternal Health Care Practices in UP and India

Abstract

On 13th December 1986, the famous actor of Indian cinema Mrs. Smita Patil died of child birth complications technically known as puerperal sepsis (HT, 13th Dec, 1986). 36 years later, in 2022, Dr. Archana of Dausa, Rajasthan died by suicide as she was arrested after a pregnant woman died of Post Partum Haemorrhage (PPH) in her private hospital (TNN. March 30th 2022). This clearly reflects the challenge that maternal health throws at the health fraternity. A woman’s struggle in the stage of pregnancy is full of turbulents. The struggle of mothers continues in India even today and that too in the state of UP even on a large scale. The current Maternal Mortality Ratio in India is 103 per 10000 live births & for the state of UP, it is 167 (SRS, 2019). Similarly, the Maternal Mortality Rate of India is 6.5 per 100,000 pregnant women in the age group of 15-49 years where as in UP, it is 14.7 per 100,000 pregnant women in the age group of 15-49 years. The high Maternal Mortality both in India and UP stand as a testimony to this fact as reducing this indicator is a priority. The target of achieving the SDG target of 70 per one lakh live births is a long way. The current article focuses on the initiatives of the role of homoeopathy in public health system to address maternal mortality. Basically, there are three approaches to reduce maternal mortality. These are addressing the three crucial delays related to the maternal mortality. The article focuses exclusively on these approaches while relating to homoeopathy. There are three objectives of the article. The first is to find out the current status of Homoeopathy in the maternal health practices, the second is to find out the details of the current & past implementation strategies in the homoeopathic context and the third is to find out the link between Homoeopathy & maternal health practices. The study uses secondary data. The gap that the article worked on is to explore a link between Homoeopathy & maternal health & its modalities. It deciphers whether there is a functional link currently or not & suggests future strategies based on the functionality of the link. It will be a step in the right direction to fulfill the plans to achieve the maternal health target of SDG by 2030 especially for maternal mortality related goals. For the benefit of the readers, the article includes its expected outcome, relevance to society & policy making through the context of the identified issues & the research gap. Through all these sections, the current article puts an effort to fulfill the three cited objectives of the current study related to incorporation of homoeopathy in maternal care.