A new study reveals that India has avoided around a million deaths of children under the age of five in the last decade. This reduction is attributed to the fall in deaths due to diarrhoea, pneumonia, measles and tetanus.
In the study which has been published in the latest issue of The Lancet, Dr. Prabhat Jha, head-centre for global health research, St.Michael’s Hospital in Toronto says, “Nearly three times that number could have been saved if national progress in child health matched that reached in some states.”
The number of deaths of children under five in 2015 is nearly equal for both boys and girls.
The research was done as part of the Million Death Study- one of the biggest studies on premature deaths in the globe. The survey in question was based in the subcontinent.
In India, most such deaths happen at home, in the absence of medical attention.
FASTEST DECLINE BETWEEN 2010 AND 2015
Over 1.3 million Indian homes partook in the survey, conducted with the help of hundreds of specially trained census staff who interviewed household members about the deaths. Later, these “verbal autopsies” were independently examined by two physicians to determine the most probable cause of death.
The study reveals a 3.3% annual decline in death rates of neonates while an annual dip of 5.4% is recorded for those between one month and 59 months old.
It’s been found that the declines picked up pace in 2005.
The fastest decline occurred between 2010 and 2015. This happened in urban regions and the richer states of India.
For every 1,000 live births, the neonatal mortality rates has gone down from 45 in 2000 to 27 in 2015. In the same period, the mortality rate for one month to 59 months olds went down from 45.2 to 19.6.
SPECIFIC CAUSES OF DEATH
Inspection of the specific reasons of death shows that mortality from neonatal tetanus and measles went down by at least 90%. Death from birth trauma and neonatal infection went down by more than 66%.
In kids aged one to 59 months, the mortality rates from diarrhoea and pneumonia went down by 60%.
Every year, around 6 million children die in the world. The global reduction in that number depends to a great extent on India- the country which accounts for nearly a fifth of those deaths.
Around 29 million Indian children died between 2000 and 2015. If the mortality rates of year 2000 has continued unabated, around 39 million children would have died.
What’s perhaps most fascinating is that this decline happened in a decade in which India’s low level of public spend on health was only modestly raised, to put it diplomatically.
The government did launch a program that encourages women to give birth in hospitals. There was also a program by which children were given a second dose of measles vaccine.
MEETING UN GOAL
If India is to meet the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals of halving child mortality rates by 2030, the country should maintain its current trajectory for children in the 1-59 months age bracket.
But the decline in neonatal mortality should accelerate.
To do the latter, the number of deaths from premature delivery and low birth weights should be reduced- aspects more related to malnutrition, particularly true in poorer states.
In fact, both the aspects are connected to modifiable factors like health care during pregnancy, nutrition, education, anaemia and tobacco use.