Born to be Dead

This is the title of an article by Pooja Kashyap ( Times of India / 17 July, 2011 ).

Here are some highlights of this article :

Ø   Every year, nearly 1.2 million newborns die in India, most of them within the first few days after birth

Ø   India accounts for 30 % of neo-natal deaths worldwide ( out of 3.9 million )

Ø   Infants dieing during neo-natal period :

·        within first 7 days  ………….  45 %

·        within 7 – 28 days  …………   20 %

Ø   In the state of Uttar Pradesh, as many as 71 % neo-natal deaths occur during the first week itself

Ø   According to NGO – Save the Children -, over 400,000 newborns die annually in India, within the first 24 hours of birth – the highest in the world !

Ø   The single largest contributor to neo-natal deaths is the highest numbers of births in home settings, under the supervision of untrained attendants

My observation :

           If India could bring down its birth-rate from 2.1 % to 1.7 % during last decade, why can it not bring down its infant mortality rate from 5 % to 1 % ?

With regards

Hemen  Parekh