India’s progress in achieving health goals has been deemed “dismal” by the 2018 global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), released by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). India has made huge strides towards some health goals within the last few decades. The eradication of polio is perhaps the most notable of India’s health success stories. However, […]
child mortality
Save the Children gives India its scorecard on child health
“Basic education links the children, whether of cities or the villages, to all that is best and lasting in us.” – Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi This sentiment – that being the centric role played by children in their country’s future – has been laid bare in the latest report released by Save the Children in […]
Why India fails to be a breastfeeding nation
India is failing to be a breastfeeding nation – potentially putting the lives of its newborns at risk. Just 41.5 percent of newborns in India are breastfed within an hour of being born. This is according to new data released by UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO), ahead of World Breastfeeding Awareness Week this year. On […]
The high death toll of gender discrimination
Gender discrimination and missing women The price of gender discrimination in India is the lives of almost 240,000 girls under five every year. Much attention is given in India to the issue of female foeticide. Sex-selective abortions are considered the major driver of India’s skewed sex ratio at birth (SRB) and its resultant 63 million […]
Madhya Pradesh to miss targets on reducing child mortality rates
Madhya Pradesh is unlikely to achieve the target of reducing its under-five mortality rate to less than 23 deaths per 1000 live births, claims Alok Ranjan Chaurasia, a former professor of Institute of Economic Growth in Delhi. The goal was set out as a nationwide target in the National Health Policy 2017. This is not […]
India avoids one million child deaths since 2005
India has avoided around one million deaths of children under five since 2005 claims a study recently published in The Lancet. Despite this reduction, India still has more child deaths than any other country, with 0.9 million child deaths occurring annually. The reduction since 2005 does indicate a positive trend, though India requires a great […]
Family Participation in healthcare to reduce child mortality
A set of guidelines hoping to reduce the rate of child mortality, particularly among babies with health conditions that make 24 hour care mandatory has recently been published by the government. The guidelines attempt to increase family participation through a partnership between healthcare providers and families in the provision of care to newborns. The set […]