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ShareBangalore: Infant mortality in India fell from 117 per 1000 live births in 1990 to 72 in 2007 but there are still challenges that needed to be addressed to reduce the number further, Michel Saint-Lot, Unicef Representative for Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh said.
In Karnataka, the figure dropped from 85 to 54 in the same period, he said during the launch of the special edition issue of UNICEF's `The State of the World's Children' report which tracks the impact of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), which completed its 20th anniversary.
The access to drinking water has improved from 62% in 1992-93 to 88 percent in 2005-06 while in Karnataka, it has improved from 71.68% to 86.2%, he said. The attendance rate in primary schools for girls in the age group of 6-10 also increased from 61% to 81%.
He said it was commendable that in rural Karnataka, the attendance rate in the age bracket was 97.8%.
However, there continue to remain challenges that were yet to be addressed. Everyday around 5,000 children under age of five die in India and large number of these deaths are due to preventable causes, he said during a presentation.
The number of children per 1000 live births who die before reaching their fifth birthday was 59 for general population and as high as 88 and 96 for SC and STs respectively.
"Early marriage and inadequate health care of women adversely affect the survival of their children", he said.
Forty seven per cent of women between the age group of 20-24 had been married before 18, he said, quoting the National Family Health Survey. Thirty three per cent of married women in the age group of 15-49 had a body mass index less than 18.5 kg. Nearly 56% of the married women in this age group were anaemic and just 23% in this age group took iron folic acid supplements for three months or more. Only 47% of births were delivered by skilled health provider.
Only 25% of children are put on breastfeeding within an hour of birth while only 46% are exclusively breastfed for six months, he said quoting the survey.
He said only 57% of children between six to nine months are breast fed and given complementary food and only 44% of children aged 12-23 months received all vaccinations.
"Malnutrition rates continue to be very high in India", he said. The percentage of underweight children under three was 46% in 2005-2006 as against 47% in 1998-99.
Achieving full coverage of key survival interventions continue to remain a challenge, he said.
Speaking on the CRC, which has articulated the set of universal rights of children adopted by the UN General Assembly and ratifiedby 193 countries, he said India ratified the CRC in 1992, embracing standards in health care, education, legal and social services.
"The passage of the Education Bill in Parliament this year, prohibition of Child Labour and Child Marriage Acts are prime examples of how the Indian government is championing the rights of children", he said.
