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Seasonal Variations in Childbirth
The analysis of seasonal variations in births in India, using the Health Management Information System data for three pre-pandemic years, reveals a distinct trend of peaking of births during the August–October window and dips during February–March. This trend attenuates as we move from the north-western regions towards the south-eastern regions. These findings will help scholars, policymakers, and the health system to prioritise the delivery of maternal and child services.
The authors acknowledge the help of the members of the nutrition team of the Centre for Technology Alternatives for Rural Areas in checking the internal consistency of the HMIS data and comparing it with the estimates based on the census population and Anemia Mukt Bharat estimates for individual states.
The analysis of seasonal variations in births in India, using the Health Management Information System data for three pre-pandemic years, reveals a distinct trend of peaking of births during the August–October window and dips during February–March. This trend attenuates as we move from the north-western regions towards the south-eastern regions. These findings will help scholars, policymakers, and the health system to prioritise the delivery of maternal and child services.
Births are invariably preceded by conception, which itself is a consequence of cohabitation. For human population, there are no biological interregnum across the seasons towards any of the three steps. Yet, births do show seasonal patterns, and it is of interest to see what these patterns are and what could these imply.
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