let's make every mother a happy mother

Sharing mushy quotes and anecdotes on Mother's Day is fine, but often celebrating Mother's Day demands much more than that. 

 

Maternal mortality rate (MMR) stands for the death rate of mothers due to pregnancy-related causes. According to a special bulletin issued by the Registrar General of India, India had 103 deaths per lakh births in 2017–19, which is still quite high. For a BPL family, motherhood means losing wages, facing malnutrition, health issues, and the possibility of a child dying from curable diseases.

Our state governments and central government are running several programmes to target this issue. This strategy has multiple folds. It aims to compensate a mother's wage loss during pregnancy by meeting her nutritional needs during and after pregnancy, providing facilities for an institutional childbirth in a hospital, and ensuring that both mother and child are properly vaccinated. There is a vast network of ASHA workers, Aanganwadi Didi's, and PHCs to ensure that all pregnancies are reported, documented, and given proper care from 1st trimester to childbirth and post-childbirth. 

 

Some of the programmes are either run by the central government under umbrella schemes like Poshan Abhiyaan, ICDS, Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandan Yojna or some stand-alone programmes are run by state governments along with NGOs. 

 

It's very easy to be an armchair critic and say that the system doesn't work, but the truth is that we are part of the system. If the system doesn't work properly, it only means that we are not doing our part properly. Look around yourself. You will see a lot of vulnerable people who can benefit a lot from such initiatives. maids, security guards, househelp, people living in slums. They may be working at your home, at your workshop, or running a small shop outside your office. Make sure that you help them during their pregnancy. Don't deduct salaries while they are on leave. make them aware of the benefits of registering their pregnancies. Let them know about the little care to be taken during pregnancy. Help to get to a nearby primary health centre (PHC) and get a protective cover from state run schemes.

Let's take small steps towards making motherhood a pleasant emotional milestone for the less privileged ones too.. Until every mother feels safe and happy while carrying a life within her, our work is incomplete.

Happy Mother's Day.