Nagpur NRHM Data Analysis
Technologies/Tools Used: R,Tableau
The Project analyse and provide in-depth information on Maternal and Child Morbidity and Mortality in the Nagpur district of Maharashtra, in 2015. An Analytical Dashboard using tableau was created describing major causes of deaths and identifies areas with highest death rates, depicts trends related to monthly birth rate and number of vaccination/immunization and prevalent Diseases in various categories(pregnant women, infants, children and adults).
ANALYSIS:
Maternal Mortality Rate: Several causes have been noted for a high rate of maternal mortality. While known chronic diseases have caused the maximum maternal deaths (136 in Nagpur and 2443 in other districts), known acute diseases, trauma, accident & burn cases, suicides and unknown factors have also lead to a significant number of maternal deaths. Other than these, Eclampsia, which is a serious medical condition that affects women during pregnancy, is also one of the major causes of maternal mortality.
Anaemic Mothers: Only 31.30% of all women have taken IFA tablets, a vital medicine to be taken by all women during pregnancy to maintain the required haemoglobin and iron level in the body. The severely low percentage of women taking the necessary medicine is indicative of presence of anaemic mothers which also leads to birth of LBW children.
Infant and child morbidity and mortality rate: Respiratory infections have contributed much to child morbidity. High air pollution due to the presence of two thermal power plants, i.e. Koradi Thermal Power Station and Kaparkheda Thermal Power Station could be the leading cause of this. Apart from this, February 2016 recorded the highest admissions in respiratory infections. This implies that the crux of the problem lies in the increase of level of air pollution during winters.
Imbalanced infant sex ratio (due to still births, abortions and male-child preference) and various factors like sepsis, asphyxia and LBW, infant and child morbidity and mortality rate has prevailed in Nagpur. The causes can be allotted to incomplete and/or irregular following of the Immunisation protocol, inefficient postpartum care of the mother and infant and inefficient anaemia treatment provided to the mother.
Insufficient postpartum check-ups within 48 hours of delivery: Many women did not receive sufficient number of postpartum check-ups due to a lack of availability of ample workforce and/or doctors. The immediate 48 hours after delivery remain the most crucial for ensuring the reproductive health of the mother. Unavailability of this care leads to increased risk of unwanted pregnancies and also affects the health of the new-born.
Sex ratio imbalance: The data shows that in Nagpur in 2015, there existed 942 females in correspondence to 1000 males. The reasons for this unfavourable sex ratio remain mostly with the issues in the mind-set of people. Women, most of them being uneducated, are not enlightened upon their right to choose. The dominant patriarch in the families has tendency to get a female foetus aborted. 688 abortions which were recorded in Nagpur, occurrence of significant number of still births and other reasons are all contributing factors to this gender imbalance.