Assam's maternal mortality rate (MMR) has seen the highest drop among all other states — a development Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said helped the state shed the tag of a “state with the highest MMR”.

Sharing the development on X, Sarma said, “Huge breakthrough for Assam! As per the latest SRS 2019–21 report: MMR drops from 195 to 167 — a record 28-point fall, the HIGHEST among all states! Assam is NO LONGER the state with the highest MMR.”

MMR refers to the number of maternal deaths during a given time period per 1,00,000 live births.

Sarma also said that the infant mortality (IMR) had also improved. The IMR refers to the deaths of children under one year of age per 1,000 live births in a year.

The Sample Registration Survey or the SRS is a large-scale demographic sample survey in villages and urban blocks, providing reliable estimates of birth and death rates in addition to other fertility and mortality indicators.

The state MMR has been falling since 2018. In the 2018-2020 report, Assam MMR fell to 195 deaths per live births from 215 in 2016-18.

Guwahati-based gynaecologist Hemangas Baishya told The Telegraph the decline can be attributed to the rise in institutional delivery and proper antenatal check-ups.

“Key factor is hospital delivery. More and more women are coming to the hospital and seeking consultation. Anti-natal care and check-ups have improved at the grassroots due to the intervention of the Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA). ASHAs help in identifying those not in good health or are anaemic,” Baishya said.

Early marriage and nutritional deficiencies kept the MMR high in Assam but with the government crackdown on child marriage since 2023, the MMR is expected to see further decline.