Maternal mortality rate: India ranks second globally:
- India contributes 7.2 percent of maternal deaths globally.
- India ranks second after Nigeria, which has the highest number of deaths, according to the United Nations Inter-Agency Maternal Mortality Assessment Group.
- A maternal death is the death of a woman from any cause within 42 days of pregnancy, childbirth or abortion.
- The MMR is a collaboration between the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the United Nations Population Fund, the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs and various international organizations.
- The maternal mortality ratio in India has declined by 23 points. That is, the rate of deaths per lakh live births has now come down to 80.
- The report also said that high blood pressure (eclampsia), infectious diseases, severe bleeding, complications of childbirth, and unsafe abortion are the main causes of maternal deaths.
April 11: National Safe Motherhood Day.
- National Safe Motherhood Day is observed every year on April 11.
Writer S. Ramakrishnan to receive Bharatiya Bhasha Award:
- Writer S. Ramakrishnan has been awarded India’s prestigious literary award, the Bharatiya Bhasha Award.
- Ramakrishnan, who has written more than a hundred books, won the Sahitya Akademi Award for the year 2018 for his novel ‘Sancharam’.
- Ramakrishnan has received various awards including the Gnanavani Award, Tagore Literary Award, Iyal Award, Maxim Gorky Award, Literary Chintana Award, Kalaignar Porkizhi Award, Codice Lifetime Achievement Award, Literary Vel Award, and Tamil Nadu Government Award.
Important Facts:
- A US court has lifted the ban on the drug ‘Leqselvi’ (duruxolitinib), which was to be introduced by Sun Pharma to treat diseases that cause hair loss.
- In the list of the best airports in the world, Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport is ranked 32nd, Bengaluru Airport is ranked 48th, Hyderabad Airport is ranked 56th, and Mumbai Airport is ranked 73rd.