WHO/Marie-Agnes Heine
In India, more than 100 000 women die from pregnancy-related causes every year, more than anywhere else in the world. If the current trend persists, India will not be able to achieve the Millennium Development Goal 5 of reducing maternal mortality by three quarters by 2015. But some Indian states have made progress in recent years.
The government of the western Indian state of Gujarat, with a population of 50 million, has brought on board private hospitals and doctors to provide free obstetric care to poor women. This private-public partnership, called Chiranjeevi Yojana, or ‘plan for a long life’, was launched in 2005 in five districts. The government pays for the services provided by the private practitioners. The programme now covers all 25 districts of Gujarat.
This photo story shows how women and newborn benefit from the Chiranjeevi scheme and why this public-private partnership could also serve as a model for other regions and states that want to improve maternal and newborn health.
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