International Institute for Population Sciences
Deemed University (An Autonomous Organization of Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India)

Exemplars in maternal and newborn mortality reduction in India

About MNH Exemplars Infographics

About MNH Exemplars India Study

The Exemplars in maternal and newborn health (MNH) study aims to systematically and comprehensively research and document factors associated with rapid reduction in maternal and neonatal mortality over the past two decades in a small number of countries that have experienced greater declines than their socio-economic progress. This study will contribute to the larger initiative supported by Gates Ventures called Exemplars in Global Health, which includes other subject areas such as child mortality, stunting, community health worker programs and vaccine delivery.

India has made major progress in improving maternal and newborn health outcomes over the past two decades. India’s decline in mortality outpaced the global decline. By 2000, India accounted for 23% of global maternal deaths and 31% of neonatal deaths. By 2017, India had 12% of maternal deaths and 22% of neonatal deaths globally. Therefore, important lessons can be learned from a systematic investigation of the drivers of India’s progress, nationally and sub-nationally, for India to build on its success and for many other countries seeking to accelerate progress in MNH.

The primary objective is to systematically investigate, document and compare the contribution of health policies and systems, programs and services, as well as changes in coverage, quality and equity of reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health (RMNCH) interventions and contextual factors, to the reduction in maternal and neonatal mortality in India over the past two decades nationally and sub-nationally.
The mixed methods study will be conducted over 18 months and include an in-depth national macro-level analysis to develop an understanding of India’s levels and trends in maternal and neonatal mortality, and how these coincided with changes in health policies and systems, health programs and services, contextual factors, and MNH intervention coverage and equity, and identify clusters of states with varied contexts contributing most to India’s national progress. Further, state-level in-depth analysis will be undertaken to gain an in-depth understanding in six states of the pathways by which key drivers may have led to reductions in the states’ neonatal mortality rate (NMR) and maternal mortality ratio (MMR). The study will synthesise the main findings across the national and state-level analyses on the success factors contributing to the reduction of maternal and neonatal mortality in India.
The study is jointly implemented by the IIPS, NHSRC and IHAT, and University of Manitoba.

Funding Agency:

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation India

Project Team at IIPS:

Dr. K. S. James,
Director & Sr. Professor
International Institute for Population Sciences, Govandi Station Road, Deonar
Mumbai – 400 088, Maharashtra, India

Dr. Usha Ram
Professor
International Institute for Population Sciences, Govandi Station Road, Deonar
Mumbai – 400 088, Maharashtra, India

Dr. Manoj Alagarajan
Associate Professor
International Institute for Population Sciences, Govandi Station Road, Deonar
Mumbai – 400 088, Maharashtra, India

International Collaborators:

Institute for Global Public Health (IGPH)
Department of Community Health Sciences, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences
University of Manitoba (UoM), 771 McDermot Avenue, Winnipeg, Canada R3E 0T6

Project Team at UoM:
Dr. Ties Boerma, Professor
Dr. James Blanchard, Professor
Dr. B.M. Ramesh, Assistant Professor
Dr. Andrea Blanchard, Postdoctoral Fellow
Dr. Kerry Scott, Research Associate

Project staff:

Contact details:

Project email: mnhexemplars[at]iipsindia[dot]ac[dot]in

Postal address:

MNH Project, International Institute for Population Sciences,
Govandi station Road, Deonar, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400088 (India)