Assam has witnessed a dip in maternity and child mortality cases flowing monthly monitoring of health-related activities by special teams in each districts of the state.

As per the date provided by National Health Mission Assam, 289 maternal death cases were reported between April and September this year compared to 389 during the same period previous year which shows a decline by 25 per cent.

There also a decline in child mortality rate by 8.3 per cent. During April-September, 3,523 child death cases reported this year while 3,842 cases were reported during the previous year.

Mission Director of NHM Assam M.S. Lakshmi Priya said, “We undertook a slew of proactive measures, one of them being the deployment of State teams to each district, with the aim to improve the maternal and child health scenario.”

“Each team stays and reviews the maternal and infant deaths and other health-related aspects of an assigned district for three days. This practice, in force for the last five months, has contributed to reducing the maternal and infant death rate in Assam,” she said.

The decline in the mortality rates of mothers and children has instilled the belief among health practitioners and officials that Assam has the capability to do better if targeted approach is taken and a roadmap for each block is formulated factoring in specific issues.