FERTILITY INTENTIONS AND EARLY LIFE HEALTH STRESS AMONG WOMEN IN EIGHT INDIAN CITIES: TESTING THE REPRODUCTIVE ACCELERATION HYPOTHESIS

A Review of the National Family Health Survey Data in Addressing India’s Maternal Health Situation

Objective: This study aims to understand the trend of research conducted on issues of maternal health in India considering data provided in five rounds of National Family Health Survey (NFHS).

Methods: Systematic review of literature has been conducted using multi-stage search and review process adapted from Page et al.’s (2021) PRISMA. Initially 14,570 studies were identified and only 134 articles meeting selection criterion were considered in this study.

Results: Approximately 32% studies have focused on regional and state variation of maternal health status; while 27% dealt with utilization of maternal healthcare services; and 19% the socio-economic determinants of maternal health. While few studies have discussed the place of delivery, antenatal care and post-natal care visits, only five studies focus on issues related to women’s autonomy, including their health-seeking behaviour, knowledge, attitude and practices related to maternal health.

Conclusion: Non-communicable diseases and its role in maternal health still remains an unexplored domain of research on maternal health in India. Moreover, there exists geographical skewness in the number of studies conducted, focusing especially on few provinces while none on few others.

Natural fertility and longevity

Much empirical work suggests an association between fertility patterns and longevity. I review this association, focusing on natural fertility populations and emphasizing the role of both the timing and the intensity of fertility. Overall, it appears that although age at last reproduction routinely correlates with post-reproductive longevity, suggesting a slower rate of senescence among late fertile women, the same is not true for age at first reproduction and parity. I discuss some of the conceptual and methodologic issues, as well as the sources of the biases, that have been a persistent feature of this body of research. I conclude by suggesting avenues of research that could be initiated or pursued in the area.