Understanding The Relationship Between Age of Mother and Health Indicators in Meghalaya, India

Maternal health is an important determinant for the overall health scenario in an area. The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines maternal health as the health of women during pregnancy, childbirth, and the postnatal period. The age of the mother during her first pregnancy is significant, which affects the pregnancy outcomes. This study attempts to look at the association between maternal age and health issues in the West Khasi Hills district of Meghalaya, India. The area shows a high prevalence of teenage pregnancies, which is reported at 7.2% of women who have had a baby by the age of 18, which is above the national average. The study emphasises the issue of the age of the mother and how it plays into fertility rate, institutional delivery, anaemia, hypertension, and pregnancy outcomes. Overall, we see that the issue at hand is the connection between a mother’s age and health, which we put forth as a key issue related to the high rate of teen pregnancy and also improving upon the health of mothers and their children in the region. Keywords: maternal health, teenage pregnancy, correlation, anaemia