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India

©WHO/Christine McNabb 
The team of nurses and ASHAS who work at the Maternal and Child Health Centre in Gautampuri, New Delhi in August 2019.  

Every Woman Every Newborn in India

Download the full profile with additional key demographics, progress against milestones, and more.

 ©UNICEF/Ahmad.
Dr Atul Jindal doing an online round  at the Special Newborn Care Unit (SNCU) in district hospital Dantewada, Chattisgarh, India, in December 2018. 

National mortality targets

Maternal
mortality ratio

70 per 100,000 live births
by 2030

Stillbirth
rate

9 per 1,000 total births
by 2030

Neonatal mortality rate

9 per 1,000 live births
by 2030

©UNICEF/Romana.
Dr Rekha Sinha,54 year old performs a medical examination on Laxmi Devi,27 year old, who has come for monthly check up during her pregnancy at the primary health centre (PHC) at Bidupur in district Vaishali in Bihar in November 2016. 

Progress to meet Every Woman Every Newborn Everywhere coverage targets

MNH Acceleration Plan highlights

In 2024, the priorities in India’s MNH Acceleration Plan include:  

  • Action plan/Roadmap to achieve the SDGs through Surakshit Matritva Aashwasan (SUMAN), an initiative which covers all maternal health programmes under one umbrealla and aims to provide free, quality healthcare to pregnant women, newborns and mothers up to six months after delivery for zero preventable maternal and newborn deaths in public health facilities.
  • Roll-out of the Extended Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan (E-PMSMA), a comprehensive, quality, universal antenatal care initiative.
  • Rollout of post-natal care and post-pregnancy family planning (post-partum and post-abortion family planning) to impact on maternal and newborn morbidity and mortality. 
  • Strengthening and scale-up of a Midwifery Services initiative.
  • Special focus on high-burden districts/subnational level with poor maternal and neonatal mortality indicators.
  • Enhancing continuity of care under RMNCH+A.

©WHO/Christine McNab
An auxiliary nurse midwife weighs a pregnant woman as part of regular antenatal care in Gurugram district, Haryana State, India. August 2019.

©WHO/Christine McNabb
A pregnant woman in Nadi, present for an antenatal check-up during a primary health care outreach session. Gurugram district, Haryana State, India. August 2019.

Quality of care in India

India is one of the 11 countries that set-up the Network for Improving Quality of Care for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (Quality of Care Network).

India’s successes in improving quality of care for maternal, newborn and child health are essential to help reduce maternal and newborn mortality and stillbirths. These include:

  • Surakshit Matritva Aashwasan (SUMAN) is an initiative to ensure free, dignified, and high-quality healthcare for every woman and newborn within public health facilities. Various platforms are in place in each community to generate social mobilization and guarantee accountability under the SUMAN initiative.
  • National Quality Assurance Standards are implemented. 
  • The  Labour Room Quality Improvement Initiatives ‘LaQshya’ initiative aims to improve quality of care around birth, intra-partum and promotes respectful maternal care in public health facilities. LaQshya has quality-certified 941 labours rooms and  702 maternity operation theaters  so far.
  • The MusQan initiative is designed to ensure provision of quality child friendly services from birth to children up to 12 years of age in public health facilities.
  • Roll-out of Midwifery Services Initiative initiated in 2018 to improve quality of care of maternity services, ensure task shifting among health personnel and respectful care to pregnant women and newborns.
  • Eight National Midwifery Training Institutes were established to incorporate respectful care as part of midwives’ training. 

News and events

Resources

Guidance on developing national learning health-care systems to sustain and scale up delivery of quality maternal, newborn and child health care

Improving the quality of care for maternal, newborn and child health: implementation guide for national, district and facility levels

This implementation guide provides practical guidance for policy makers, programme managers, health practitioners and other actors working to establish and implement quality of care (QoC) programmes for maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) at national, district and facility level.

Integrating stakeholder and community engagement in quality of care initiatives for maternal, newborn and child health

This module aims to make stakeholder and community engagement an integral part of quality improvement initiatives and suggests approaches to make stakeholder and community engagement comprehensive and meaningful.