According to UNICEF’s recent report, “Uttar Pradesh is the most dangerous state of the country for a women to give birth to a child.” Health services are not good in the state and the state has high rate of death of mother during childbirth there.

In Uttar Pradesh maternal death rate is 1:42 whereas in Kerala it’s just 1:500. Around 1/3 of all maternal deaths in India are reported from UP alone. Main causes of high maternal and neonatal deaths are inadequate nutrition, lack of birth spacing and less reproductive health care.

Chief of UNICEF in Lucknow, Adele Khudr said, “Interventions that save the life of the new mother is beneficial for their babies because survivals of mothers are linked to their infants.”

Most of the women in UP give birth to their child at home only and without any assistance of a doctor or nurse. In the state, only 25% of all deliveries have been assisted by a skilled birth helper.

After Orissa and Madhya Pradesh, UP is at 3rd place for its high death rate of the maternal deaths which is 46:1000. Babies are more likely to die in first two years of life if mother die during the first 6 weeks of the delivery compared to the babies having mothers with them.