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Infant girls in rural Gujarat nurse in lap of death: SRS

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After we told you that womb is not the only place where girls in Gujarat die, we bring to you the horrifying truth about how our babies in rural Gujarat have been battling for survival, nursing almost in the lap of death or wilful neglect. Unfortunately, they lose the battle once too often with girls even failing to survive past their first birthdays!

Last three years’ sample registration system (SRS) has shown that for girls, the Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) is not only higher than the state average it is even more than that of the male child. And that’s not all. IMR data also show that the fate of girl child is far worse in the rural areas than her urban counterparts.

The IMR for the girl child in rural areas was 47, while for the urban areas it was 25. IMR refers to the number of children dying before reaching the age of 1 per 1000 live births.

The data also throw light on another interesting aspect — IMR for male child in rural areas is falling at a higher rate than that of the girl child. The IMR for male was 47 in 2011 which fell to 44 in 2912, a drop of 3 points while that of the girl child was 49 in 2011 and fell to 47 in 2012, a drop of 2 points.

Interestingly in the urban areas, the fall in IMR for the girl child has been good. It fell from 30 in 2011 to 25 in 2012, while the IMR for the male child remained constant at 23.

Dr Chetan Trivedi, a paediatrician said that lack of health facilities aggravate the problem in the rural areas. “Moreover, poverty is a big factor. Those in rural areas, particularly the poor, are more likely to invest in the health of a son than the daughter because the former is seen as an investment while the latter is seen as a liability. This could the reason why IMR in rural areas is higher than in urban areas, where poverty is far more severe,” he said.

Dr Trivedi further added that another reason could be absence of good medical care. “When the girl child is the second or third child of a couple and the health facility is too far or too expensive to access, poor parents are more likely to ignore the health needs of the child,” he said. Smita Bajpai of Chetna, an NGO that works on health and nutrition of women and children also agreed to Dr Trivedi’s views. “The woeful lack of medical facilities, particularly in rural areas is one of the reasons. Another reason is the lack of specialists. Even if a family wants to get its new born baby girl treated they will most of the time have to travel long-distance and even then there is no guarantee that a specialist doctor would be available. Most of the specialists are only available in district hospitals,” said Bajpai.

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