In India, the infant mortality rate (IMR) is the number of deaths per 1,000 live births. The infant mortality rate is a sensitive indicator of social health in a nation. It is also used as an indicator to measure the level of health in a country based on the provision and utilization of essential services, such as health care and sanitation.
About 8,00,000 infant deaths were reported in India in 2017, the lowest in five years as reported by the United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UNIGME). However, the infant death numbers still remained the highest in the world.
While the world has made major strides in reducing child mortality, India is staring at a grim challange of having one million children under five dying every year. The silence over this issue is deafening. India accounts for 18% of global child deaths following a steady decline from 22% in 2012.
The data released by UNICEF is very shocking because the mortality rate among babies is increasing even after decades after independence. The infant mortality rate was reported highest in the world in India, followed by Nigeria, Pakistan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Infant Mortality Rate is an international index that measures the legitimacy of human development across countries. The poorer the demographic condition, the more appalling the IMR. At 39 deaths per 1,000 live births India has among the worst rates when compared to other developing countries.
The reason for such a huge variation of IMR within states is due to socioeconomic variables. The richest city in the states has less infant mortality rates than some of the poorer and more backward areas within the same state. Regional variations which are mainly on account of socio-economic factors are rather sharp.
There is a marked decline in Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) in India, yet the phenomenon of variations in IMR at the State and District level receive less attention when framing policies for infant health. There is a high Intra-State and Inter-State variations in IMR, such variations receives less attention from policymakers.
According to India’s Sample Registration System, Goa (8), Pondicherry (10), Kerala (6) and Manipur (9) saw the lowest infant-mortality rates in 2016.While Madhya Pradesh, Assam, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh saw the highest, in that order.
Southern states like Kerala have a very low infant mortality rate because of widespread literacy and urbanization. The settlements within the state have a higher infant mortality rate than the capital cities due to a lack of health care facilities and infrastructure.
Low birth weight is the single greatest cause of infant mortality in developing countries and one of the major causes of child mortality. It can be prevented if the mother is well-nourished, diarrhoea can be avoided by exclusively breast-feeding the child in the first six months.
The sad but the truth is that the majority of deaths are still due to preventable causes. The main reasons for these newborn deaths are lack of skilled birth attendants, antenatal care and transport facilities at time of need, immunization, and access to safe drinking water.
Addressing gaps in quality of health care is the need of the hour in India.Hospitals should ensure that the critical products to save the newborns are available.
It is a common knowledge that complications during the delivery of a baby could result in high infant mortality rates. Safe delivery not only ensures the health of the child but also the mother as well as the family members. However, many women don’t give priority to ensuring safe delivery.
The government needs to address this gap in quality of care. In most cases, deaths due to sudden infant death syndrome are preventable if only these facilities were available.
The infant mortality ratio is directly proportional to the literacy rate. This indirectly indicates the importance of Female Literacy in reducing IMR. Improving female education can do wonders in improving the female population and bringing a drastic change in IMR.