Dead Women Talking. A Civil Society Report on Maternal Deaths in India

The report is an outcome of a coordinated civil society effort led by CommonHealth, a national level coalition working on maternal-neonatal health and safe abortion. India has been reporting a steady decline in the country's maternal mortality ratio (MMR) over the last few years. It is in this context that several civil society organizations in the country came together in 2012 under an initiative led by CommonHealth called Dead Women Talking, to examine maternal mortality in India from a social determinants and human rights perspective. This report describes maternal deaths that were documented as part of this initiative using a social autopsy tool designed to capture health system gaps and social determinants that contribute to maternal deaths. The report draws from an analysis of 124 maternal deaths identified and documented over a period of two years (between January 2012 and December 2013). The deaths constitute a purposive sample from 31 districts across ten states of the country viz. Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Assam.