Proceeding of the 3 rd International Conference on Public Health, Vol. 3, 2017, pp. 71-87 Copyright © 2017 TIIKM ISSN: 2324 – 6735 online DOI: https://doi.org/10.17501/icoph.2017.3109 The 3 rd International Conference on Public Health (ICOPH 2017) SOCIOECONOMIC DETERMINANTS OF MATERNAL ANEMIA: A DISAGGREGATED LEVEL ANALYSIS FROM ASSAM, INDIA Pranti Dutta 1 , Bodhisattva Sengupta 2 1 ,2 Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, India Emails: 1 prantidutta12@gmail.com 2 bsengupta@iitg.ernet.in Abstract: This study examines socio-economic determinants associated with maternal mortality at disaggregated level in Assam, the state with highest maternal mortality ratio in India. An extensive door-to-door household survey was carried out during 2014-15 using multistage sampling to select villages in districts with high number of reported maternal deaths. The samples consist of currently pregnant women, mother with children 0-24 months and members of families who have experienced of maternal death. The study reveals that prevailing incidences of maternal mortality and maternal complications are the result of maternal anemia. Maternal complications are more likely to be associated with lower concentration of hemoglobin level, which is a proxy for maternal anemia. In addition, concentration of hemoglobin level is positively related to socioeconomic factors-literacy, land ownershipand habitat/occupation of the sample population. As a policy prescription, such findings should encourage the policymakers to identify context specific determinants of maternal anemia for appropriate interventions, instead of ‘one-size-fits-all’ type of approach. Keywords: Maternal Anemia, Social Context,Dietary Supplementary, Iron Bioavailability. Introduction During pregnancy, women are at high risk of anemia since requirement for iron increases due to expansionof red cells and development of the foetus/placenta (Hazra and Maitra, 2001; Nair and Iyengar, 2009). According to World Health Organization (WHO), anemia is a state which exists when concentration of hemoglobin level below 11 g/dL in pregnant women, whereas, hemoglobin level below 7 g/dL is considered as severe anemia (Sharma & Shankar, 2010; Gogoi & Prusty, 2013).Lower hemoglobin level is associated with birth complications such as increases the risk of postpartum hemorrhage, preeclampsia and preterm birth, stillbirth including death of mother and her infant (Ali et al., 2011; Laflamme, 2011; Frass, 2015). Although incidences of malaria, helminth and chronic infections play a major role in development of anemia, iron deficiency is the most common form of anemia(Singh, 2012).An estimate of WHO states that iron deficiency is responsible for 50 percent of all anemia cases (WHO, 2015). An intervention to reduce anemia induced by iron deficiency in pregnant women is distribution of iron supplementation. However, policymakers should consider the context specific determinants and sociocultural influences on the implementation of such programme (Nagata et al., 2012). WHO (2015) showed that India contributes one-third of all global maternal deaths (15 percent). Kalaivani, (2009) argued that anemia is directly and indirectly responsible for 40 percent of maternal deaths in India. At the state level, Assam has highest maternal death with 300 per 1, 00,000 live births (SRS, GOI, 2013). According to National Family Health Survey (2015-16), 46 percent of all women aged between 15-49 years are anemic in Assam (vs. at national average is 53 percent).