India is home to about 21 per cent of child mortality cases in the world, and malnutrition causes almost 50 per cent of these deaths, says a UNICEF report released on Monday.
NEW DELHI: India is home to about 21 per cent of child mortality cases in the world, and malnutrition causes almost 50 per cent of these deaths, says a UNICEF report released on Monday.
Even though, for the first time, the number of children dying before their fifth birthday globally has fallen from 10 million to 9.7 million, the South Asian region still needs to make a lot of effort to reach its Millennium Development Goal (MDG) said Progress for Children: A World Fit for Children Statistical Review. Out of South Asia’s total share of 3.1 million under-five child deaths, India alone had 2.1 million children who could not live until their fifth birthday, in 2005-06.
About one-third of underweight children in the world live in India, the highest numbers being in Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Bihar followed by Gujarat, Orissa, Chattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh and Meghalaya. The average annual rate of decline in malnutrition since 1990 has been 0.9 per cent. The report revealed that the under-five mortality rate for India was estimated at 7.6 and if the country had to achieve the MDG of 3.8 by 2015, it had to increase the annual rate of reduction from the present 2.6 per cent to 7.6 per cent in the next nine years.
About 75 per cent of under-five deaths in India are infant deaths and about half of them die within four weeks of their birth. In neo-natal mortality, India has contributed 25 per cent (one million) out of total four million children who died globally last year within their first 28 days. Worldwide, 37 per cent of under-five deaths are attributed to neo-natal causes. Of the 19 million infants in the world who have low birth weight (less than 2,500 gms) 8.3 million are in India.
Early marriage and motherhood continue to be the major reason for high infant and maternal mortality in the country. While, worldwide, more than 60 million women aged 20-24 were married before 18, in India 22 million (44.5 per cent) of such women reported being married underage. Having a maternal mortality rate of 450 per one lakh live births, India contributes 23 per cent of the global maternal deaths. However, the government has disputed UNICEF figures, claiming 301 as the official figure.
Despite aggressive immunisation campaigns, India has the largest number of unprotected children in the world. Of the 26 million children not immunised with DPT 3 globally, 11.5 million live in India. Prominent diseases which claim lives of children are diarrhoea, pneumonia and measles. In 2004, pneumonia claimed two million children globally, including 410,000 in India.
Apart from the measles immunisation coverage being below 60 per cent in India, it also has the largest number of pneumonia deaths. Out of 2 million diarrhoea deaths in the world among under-five children, 39 per cent take place in India.
p_vineeta@dnaindia.net
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