The number of infant deaths in India came down from 8.67 lakh in 2016 to 8.02 lakh in 2017 — the lowest in five years. Nevertheless, it is the highest in the world followed by China at 3,30,000, according to a UN report released recently.
The report prepared by United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UNIGME), said of 8 lakh deaths in India, 6,05,000 were neo-natals while the number of deaths among children aged 5-14 was 1,52,000. Infant deaths were reported highest in the world in India, followed by Nigeria at 4,66,000, Pakistan 3,30,000 and Democratic Republic of Congo 2,33,000 (DRC), the report said.
Dr Gagan Gupta, Chief of Health at the World Health Organisation, said India is making good progress in combatting reasons leading to infant deaths through a number of Government-led initiatives.
“It has to be taken into consideration that India has a birth rate of 25 million every year and the number of infant deaths has come down and is lowest in five years. This is also the first time that the number of deaths under five is equal to number of births. The next step would be reducing the number of deaths,” he said.
“About 18 per cent of children born globally are from India,” he added. The main reasons behind infant deaths remain to be lack of access to water, sanitation, proper nutrition or basic health services, Gupta said.
