Abstract
INQUIRIES into the causes of maternal mortality in Bombay, Calcutta, Delhi and Madras show that the data published in the reports of public health departments are unreliable and do not give an accurate picture of the real situation. These inquiries have been collated by Dr. S. Pandit in a report of the Indian Research Fund Association (No. 17 ; June 1948), and show that figures obtained by special investigations are considerably in excess of the numbers recorded in the public health reports. According to the reports of the executive health officer of Bombay, for example, the maternal mortality-rate for the year 1937 was 4·4 per 1,000 live births, whereas the rate determined by Dr. J. Jhirad for the same period was 13·5 per 1,000 live births. A clearer picture of the incidence of maternal mortality and of the causes responsible for it could be obtained only when a better system of recording all vital occurrences and of certification of the causes of death become widely established throughout India.
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Maternal Mortality in India. Nature 163, 316 (1949). https://doi.org/10.1038/163316b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/163316b0