Govt sets taskforce to examine maternal mortality rate, age of motherhood

A taskforce has been set up by the government to examine matters pertaining to the age of motherhood, imperatives of lowering maternal mortality rate and improvement of nutritional levels, according to a statement by the WCD Ministry.

The 10-member taskforce will be headed under the chairmanship of Jaya Jaitly.

It will suggest suitable legislations or amendments in the existing laws to support its recommendations; and also work out a detailed roll-out plan with timelines to implement these recommendations, the Women and Child Development Ministry (WCD said in the statement.

The taskforce will submit its report by July 31, it said.

The taskforce will examine the correlation of age of marriage and motherhood with health, medical wellbeing and nutritional status of mother and child, during pregnancy, birth and thereafter, key parameters like infant mortality rate (IMR), maternal mortality rate (MMR), total fertility rate (TFR), the sex ratio at birth (SRB), child sex ratio (CSR) and any other relevant points pertaining to health and nutrition in this context, the statement said.

The taskforce may invite other experts to its meetings if and as required and it will be provided secretarial assistance by NITI Aayog and will submit its report, it said.