Click to play videoNew Delhi: Sometimes numbers tell the story. The recent figures in the UNICEF report on the State of the World's Children are dismal – one million child deaths every year in India.
It is once again a stark reminder of the distance that is yet to be covered when it comes to taking care of newborns and their mothers.
“The absolute number of one million child deaths per year will not change in a year's time,” UNICEF India Representative Dr Karin Hulshof said.
And if this was not disturbing take a look at these facts:
- Globally, between 1980 and 2000, deaths in the first week of life have actually risen from 23 to 28 per cent.
- In India, more than 5,00,000 children under five die within the first 28 days of life.
- 60 per cent of pregnant women deliver babies in their homes.
- 78,000 women die every year from pregnancy and childbirth complications.
- Uttar Pradesh has a maternal mortality of 517, close to Sudan's 550.
During the release of the UNICEF report, Planning Commission member Dr Syeda Hameed said, “I can never forget the site of Lal Ded hospital in the heart of Srinagar where three or four pregnant women were cramped together on a single bed.”
All stake holders say that they know the simple measures that must be taken to prevent the deaths of children and their mothers.
Yet for the poor, accessing health care is a nightmare and for a nation nurturing 21st Century ambitions, posting a doctor at rural health care centers seems difficult.
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