Sustainable Development Goals and the Status of Maternal Health in Assam: A Review

A good maternal health plays a very crucial role in the well-being of a nation thereby reducing poverty, increasing empowerment, gender equality. Aiming to achieve these objectives Goal 3 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) deals with Good Health and Well-being and Goal 3.1 specifically talks about reducing Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) to 70 per 1,00,000 live births in the global context by 2030. India being a signatory of the SDGs also took very active steps to curb the MMR. In context of Assam, recent report by NITI Aayog indicated the MMR is alarmingly highest in the country with 215 per 1,00,000 live birth (2020-2021). Addressing this issue, the present paper intended to focus on the role of youth and the social work interventions which would help in promulgating this objective by adopting right based approach at the grass-root level. Interventions in terms of engaging in participatory development in communities, awareness building among the people, innovative methods among others will help in addressing and meeting the global commitment. For the present paper secondary source of data was employed and the data were collected by reviewing various international and national articles, reports related to MMR, government websites and reports highlighting the various socio-economic and cultural factors, maternal healthcare schemes aligned with SDGs in Assam. The paper advocates for the active engagement of youth which is pertinent to address the issues relating to maternal health in the context of Assam which has a long way to go in achieving the target set in the global context.