Decline in Infant Mortality Rate

As per the Sample Registration System (SRS) Reports published by the Registrar General of India, the Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) in the country has declined steadily from  47/1000 live births in 2010 to  40/1000 live births  in 2013.

The details of Infant Mortality Rate, State and UT wise as per the SRS Reports 2010-2013 are  given below:-

State-wise IMR in India as per SRS Reports (2010-2013)

State/UTs	2010	2011	2012	2013
India	47	44	42	40
Bihar	48	44	43	42
Chhattisgarh	51	48	47	46
Himachal Pradesh	40	38	36	35
Jammu and Kashmir	43	41	39	37
Jharkhand	42	39	38	37
Madhya Pradesh	62	59	56	54
Odisha	61	57	53	51
Rajasthan	55	52	49	47
Uttar Pradesh	61	57	53	50
Uttarakhand	38	36	34	32
Arunachal Pradesh	31	32	33	32
Assam	58	55	55	54
Manipur	14	11	10	10
Meghalaya	55	52	49	47
Mizoram	37	34	35	35
Nagaland	23	21	18	18
Sikkim	30	26	24	22
Tripura	27	29	28	26
Andhra Pradesh	46	43	41	39
Goa	10	11	10	9
Gujarat	44	41	38	36
Haryana	48	44	42	41
Karnataka	38	35	32	31
Kerala	13	12	12	12
Maharashtra	28	25	25	24
Punjab	34	30	28	26
Tamil Nadu	24	22	21	21
West Bengal	31	32	32	31
A and N Islands	25	23	24	24
Chandigarh	22	20	20	21
D and Nagar Haveli	38	35	33	31
Daman and Diu	23	22	22	20
Delhi	30	28	25	24
Lakshadweep	25	24	24	24
Pondicherry	22	19	17	17

The Government of India under National Health Mission has taken several steps in all the states and UTs to further reduce infant mortality rate. Some of the key steps are as under:

1.     Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakaram (JSSK): entitles all pregnant women delivering in public health institutions to absolutely free and no expense delivery including Caesarean section.  The initiative stipulates free drugs, diagnostics, blood and diet, besides free transport from home to institution, between facilities in case of a referral and drop back home. Similar entitlements have been put in place for all sick infants accessing public health institutions for treatment till one year of age.

2.     Emphasis on facility based newborn care at different levels to reduce child morbidity and mortality: Setting up of facilities for care of sick newborn such as Special New Born Care Units (SNCUs), Newborn Stabilization Units (NBSUs) and Newborn Care Corners (NBCCs) at different levels is a thrust area under NHM.

3.     Capacity building of health care providers: Various trainings are being conducted under NHM to train doctors, nurses and ANMs for essential newborn care, early diagnosis and case management of common ailments of children. These trainings are on Navjaat Shishu, Suraksha Karyakram (NSSK), Integrated Management of Neonatal and Childhood Illnesses (IMNCI), Facility Based Newborn Care (FBNC), Infant and Young Child Feeding practices (IYCF) etc.

4.     India Newborn Action Plan (INAP) has been launched with an aim to reduce neonatal mortality and stillbirths.

5.     Newer interventions to reduce newborn mortality- Vitamin K injection at birth, Antenatal corticosteroids for preterm labour, kangaroo mother care and injection gentamicin to young infants in cases of suspected sepsis.

6.     Home Based New Born Care (HBNC): Home based newborn care through ASHAs has been initiated to improve new born practices at the community level and early detection and referral of sick new born babies.

7.     Intensified Diarrhoea Control Fortnight (IDCF) to be observed in July-August 2015 focusing on ORS and Zinc distribution for management of diarrhoea and feeding practices.

8.     Integrated Action Plan for Pneumonia and Diarrhoea (IAPPD) launched in four states with highest infant mortality (UP, MP, Bihar and Rajasthan).

9.     Management of Malnutrition: Nutritional Rehabilitation Centres (NRCs) have been established for management of severe acute malnutrition in children.

10. Appropriate Infant and Young Child Feeding practices are being promoted in convergence with Ministry of Woman and Child Development.

11. Village Health and Nutrition Days (VHNDs) are organized for imparting nutritional counselling to mothers and to improve child care practices.

12. Universal Immunization Programme (UIP): Vaccination protects children against many life threatening diseases such as Tuberculosis, Diphtheria, Pertussis, Polio, Tetanus, Hepatitis B and Measles. Infants are thus immunized against seven vaccine preventable diseases every year. The Government of India supports the vaccine programme by supply of vaccines and syringes, cold chain equipment and provision of operational costs.

13. Mission Indradhanush has been launched in 201 high focus districts to fully immunise more than 43 lakh children who are either unvaccinated or partially vaccinated; those that have not been covered during the rounds of routine immunisation for various reasons. They will be fully immunised against seven life-threatening but vaccine preventable diseases which include diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, polio, tuberculosis, measles and hepatitis.

14. In addition, vaccination against Japanese Encephalitis and Haemophilus influenza type B will be provided in selected districts/states of the country. Pregnant women will also be immunised against tetanus.

15. Mother and Child Tracking System (MCTS): A name based Mother and Child Tracking System has been put in place which is web based to ensure registration and tracking of all pregnant women and new born babies so that provision of regular and complete services to them can be ensured.

16. Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK) for health screening and early intervention services has been launched to provide comprehensive care to all the children in the age group of 0-18 years in the community. The purpose of these services is to improve the overall quality of life of children through early detection of birth defects, diseases, deficiencies, development delays including disability.

17. Under National Iron Plus Initiative (NIPI), through life cycle approach, age and dose specific IFA supplementation programme is being implemented for the prevention of anaemia among the vulnerable age groups like under-5 children, children of 6 – 10 years of age group, adolescents, pregnant & lactating women and women in reproductive age along with treatment of anaemic children and pregnant mothers at health facilities.

The MoS, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Shri Shripad Yesso Naik stated this in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha here today(30-07-2015).

Courtesy:pib.nic.in