In 2015, two children below age five died every minute in India
Almost 1.08 million Indian children under the age of five years died in 2015–that`s Two,959 deaths every day or two each minute–many of them of causes that were preventable and treatable.
India`s under-five mortality rate (U5MR)–the probability that a child born in a specific year will die before reaching the age of five–was reported to be forty three deaths per 1,000 live births in two thousand fifteen in the Sample Registration System Statistical Report 2015, the latest available data.
Child mortality is considered one of the bellwethers of the health and well-being of a nation because factors that influence child mortality also affect the health of entire populations. During 2015-16, when the economy was scaling the growth charts by recording a best-in-five-years growth rate of 7.6%, India`s U5MR of forty three in two thousand fifteen placed it the worst among BRICS countries and the third worst in South Asia, despite a 26-point improvement from a rate of sixty nine in 2008.
Some Indian states such as Assam and Madhya Pradesh recorded worse U5MR than Ghana in sub-Saharan Africa.
Most under-five deaths were attributed to neonatal causes (53%), pneumonia (15%), diarrhoeal diseases (12%), measles (3%) and injuries (3%), the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare`s Annual Report 2016-17 said, citing World Health Organization data from 2012.
«More than two-thirds of infants die in the very very first month. About 90% of these deaths are due to lightly preventable causes like pneumonia and diarrhoea,» according to Save the Children.
More under-five children died in rural areas (48 deaths per 1,000 live births) than in cities (28), data display.
The government has identified two hundred nine low-performing districts as priority areas which would be closely monitored while receiving higher per capita funding, technical support and help in adopting innovative approaches, Faggan Singh Kulaste, minister of state in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, told the Lok Sabha (lower house of parliament) in a reply on July 28, 2017.
The minister outlined government initiatives to reduce child mortality under the National Health Mission such as the Janani Suraksha Yojana (safe motherhood scheme) and the Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakaram (mother and child care programme), which entitle pregnant women who supply in public health institutions to free ante-natal check-ups, post-natal care and treatment for sick infants for up to one year of age. Special neonatal care units have also been set up in government facilities, he said.
Under the universal immunisation programme, the government provides free vaccination against life-threatening diseases such as tuberculosis, polio, tetanus and measles, the reply stated.
U5MR: Assam, Madhya Pradesh worst in India and as bad as Ghana in sub-Saharan Africa
Despite these government programmes, the data paint a worrying picture.
Among the twenty two Indian states and union territories (UTs) with a population of ten million or more, Kerala reported the lowest U5MR at 13, while Assam and Madhya Pradesh reported the highest at 62.
Only four of these states–Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab–have lower female U5MR than masculine.
India`s hook-up ratio at birth–the number of damsel children born per 1,000 masculine children–was nine hundred three damsels per 1,000 boys in 2015, IndiaSpend reported on August Two, 2017. This was worse than Pakistan (920) and Nepal (939).
The Millennium Development Aim (MDG)-4 (to reduce child mortality) was to bring U5MR down to forty two deaths per 1,000 live births by 2015, the Lok Sabha reply stated.
The Sustainable Development Aim, which substituted MDG-4 from January two thousand sixteen onwards, is a U5MR of twenty five deaths per 1,000 live births for all countries by 2030.
Data showcase that fourteen of the twenty two larger Indian states have attained MDG-4 (<42 deaths per 1,000 live births) and four states have surpassed the SDGs, namely Maharashtra (24), Delhi (20), Tamil Nadu (20) and Kerala (13).
This broad variance across states is due to systemic but potentially remediable differences in one or more aspects of healthcare facilities across states, as well as other social and cultural factors such as women`s education and sanitation.
India sluggish in tackling child deaths despite prompt economic growth, says UNICEF
About Five.9 million children under the age of five died worldwide in 2015–16,000 every day–due to diseases that are preventable or treatable, such as pneumonia, diarrhoea, malaria, meningitis, tetanus, measles, sepsis and AIDS, the United Nations Children`s Fund (UNICEF) said in its The State of The World`s Children report for 2016.
The report said countries such as India and Nigeria are «sluggish» in reducing child mortality, despite leading on the economic growth front globally. This indicates that «economic growth does not assure improved child survival, and a country`s income need not hinder progress», it noted.
South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa accounted for 80% of under-five deaths in 2015, almost half of which took place in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria and Pakistan, the report said.
India reported the highest U5MR among BRICS countries at forty three deaths per 1,000 live births in 2015, followed by South Africa (41), Brazil (16), China (11) and Russia (Ten).
Among its South Asian neighbours, India fared better only than Afghanistan (91) and Pakistan (81). Maldives reported the lowest U5MR at nine deaths per 1,000 live births, followed by Sri Lanka (Ten), Bhutan (33), Nepal (36) and Bangladesh (38).
«More than three-fourth of under-five-deaths in India are due to neonatal causes, pneumonia and diarrhoea,» Rajesh Khanna, senior technical advisor with child rights NGO Save the Children India, told IndiaSpend. Babies with birth asphyxia (deprivation of oxygen during delivery that can lead to lifelong brain harm and death), preterm babies, babies delivered at home, babies of poor and/or migrant families, and malnourished children are most vulnerable, he said.
Khanna said albeit interventions to prevent and treat childhood diseases are available, there are many challenges: Lack of skill and awareness about these solutions among communities, inadequate availability and access to these interventions within the public health system, and patchy quality of services provided for these interventions. «All these challenges are more pronounced for the marginalised and underprivileged population which has the maximum cargo of child deaths,» he said.
Khanna said all pregnant mothers must be provided with decent antenatal care services and nutritional supplements. «Institutional delivery or delivery by skilled personnel, early and off the hook breastfeeding for all babies, access to universal immunisation and hygiene must be ensured» in order to reduce infant mortality, he said.
(Published in arrangement with IndiaSpend.)