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NEWS ALERTS | Protecting children against preventable deaths
Protecting children against preventable deaths

Protecting children against preventable deaths

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published Published on May 14, 2015   modified Modified on Jul 2, 2015

Due to the annual decline in under-5 mortality rate by almost 7% during 2008-13, the Government is hopeful of India attaining the target 5 of Millennium Development Goal-4 i.e. reduce by two-thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the U5MR. This has been revealed in a press release on checking child mortality rate by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, dated 28 April, 2015.
 
However, experts think that this will be possible only if the country performs well in accomplishing universal immunization, among other things.  

Recent data from the 3rd Round of Annual Health Survey, which was conducted in 9 states during 2012-13, reveals that the percentage of children aged 12-23 months who got fully immunized ranges between 79.6% in Uttarakhand to 52.7% in Uttar Pradesh. Please check the table 1 below.

Table 1: Percentage of children aged 12-23 months fully immunized and infant mortality rate across 9 states in various rounds of Annual Health Survey
 
Table 1
Source: Press release from Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, 28 April, 2015, www.pib.nic.in
Note: AHS-1 conducted in 2010-11; AHS-2 conducted in 2011-12 and AHS-3 conducted in 2012-13

As could be seen from the table 1, in states like Uttarakhand, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh, which have higher percentages of children who are fully immunized, infant mortality rate (IMR) is comparatively lower. In states like Uttar Pradesh and Assam, which have comparatively lower percentages of children who are fully immunized, the IMR is quite high.
 
According to the World Bank, IMR is the number of infants dying before reaching one year of age, per 1,000 live births in a given year. Similarly, U5MR is the number of children who die by the age of five, per thousand live births per year.

Please check the following chart 1 to get immunization coverage among children aged 12-23 months in various states/ UTs as per different surveys.

Chart 1: Percentage of children aged 12-23 months fully immunized in states/ UTs during various surveys
 
 
 
Data source: DLHS-3, http://www.rchiips.org/prch-3.html
DLHS-4, https://nrhm-mis.nic.in/SitePages/DLHS-4.aspx
Universal Immunization Programme,
http://www.nhp.gov.in/sites/default/files/pdf/immunization
_uip.pdf


Note: Click on the red dots to view the data for the state
 
As per the District Level Household and Facility Survey-4 (also called DLHS-4) conducted in 2012-13, among the 18 states and 3 UTs, immunization coverage among children aged 12-23 months has been the highest in Goa (89.1%) and lowest in Nagaland (35.6%) (see chart 1). 
 
Government's vaccination programme

Under the Mission Indradhanush launched by the NDA government, the target is to expand full immunization coverage from 65% to at least 90% children of India. Various Government reports suggest that between 2009-2013 immunization coverage has increased from 61% to 65%, indicating only 1% increase in coverage every year.

The NDA Government has recently planned to make available all vaccines free of cost under the Universal Immunization Programme (UIP) of India. It is worth noting that the UIP provides lifesaving vaccines to protect against 7 vaccine preventable diseases, namely: diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, childhood tuberculosis, polio, hepatitis B, and measles. Additionally, vaccines for JE (Japanese Encephalitis) and Hib (Haemophilus influenzae type B) are being provided in select states.

The Government has intended to cover 201 high focus districts in the first phase of year 2015. These districts have nearly 50% of all unvaccinated or partially vaccinated children. Out of these 201 districts, 82 districts lie in just four states of India namely, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. Nearly 25% of the unvaccinated or partially vaccinated children of India live in these 82 districts of 4 states. Furthermore, another 297 districts will be targeted in the second phase of year 2015.

Under Mission Indradhanush, four special vaccination campaigns will be conducted between January and June 2015 with intensive planning and monitoring of these campaigns. The learnings from the successful implementation of the polio programme will be applied in planning and implementation of the mission.
 
The bad news is that in the Union Budget 2015-16, the total allocations of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare was trimmed by about Rs. 6000 crore, according to a budget analysis done by Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability (CBGA). The report entitled Of Bold Strokes and Fine Prints: Analysis of Union Budget 2015-16 by CBGA cautions that this cut, however, would have to be seen under the changing sharing pattern of revenues and expenditure between Centre and States, and the increased share of fund devolution to states by the Fourteenth Finance Commission.

Steps to prevent child mortality

As per the press release from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, dated 28 April 2015, under the National Health Mission (NHM), following steps are being taken to bring down mortality rate among children in all states:

1. Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakaram (JSSK) entitles all pregnant women delivering in public health institutions to absolutely free and no expense delivery including Caesarean section. The initiative stipulates free drugs, diagnostics, blood and diet, besides free transport from home to institution, between facilities in case of a referral and drop back home. Similar entitlements have been put in place for all sick infants accessing public health institutions for treatment till one year of age.

2. Facility Based Newborn Care (FBNC) at different levels to reduce child morbidity and mortality: Setting up of facilities for care of sick newborn such as Special New Born Care Units (SNCUs), Newborn Stabilization Units (NBSUs) and Newborn Care Corners (NBCCs) at different levels is a thrust area under NHM.

3. Home Based New Born Care (HBNC): Home based newborn care through ASHAs has been initiated to improve new born practices at the community level and early detection and referral of sick new born babies.

4. India Newborn Action Plan (INAP) has been launched with an aim to reduce neonatal mortality and stillbirths.

5. Newer interventions to reduce newborn mortality- Vitamin K injection at birth, Antenatal corticosteroids for preterm labour, kangaroo mother care and injection gentamicin to young infants in cases of suspected sepsis.

6. Intensified Diarrhoea Control Fortnight was observed in August 2014 focusing on ORS and Zinc distribution for management of diarrhoea and feeding practices.

7. Integrated Action Plan for Pneumonia and Diarrhoea (IAPPD) launched in four states with highest child mortality (UP, MP, Bihar and Rajasthan).

8. Management of Malnutrition: Nutritional Rehabilitation Centres (NRCs) have been established for management of severe acute malnutrition in children.

9. Appropriate Infant and Young Child Feeding practices are being promoted in convergence with Ministry of Woman and Child Development.

10. Village Health and Nutrition Days (VHNDs) are organized for imparting nutritional counselling to mothers and to improve child care practices.

11. Mother and Child Tracking System (MCTS): A name based Mother and Child Tracking System has been put in place which is web based to ensure registration and tracking of all pregnant women and new born babies so that provision of regular and complete services to them can be ensured.

12. Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK) for health screening and early intervention services has been launched to provide comprehensive care to all the children in the age group of 0-18 years in the community. The purpose of these services is to improve the overall quality of life of children through early detection of birth defects, diseases, deficiencies, development delays including disability.

13. Under National Iron Plus Initiative (NIPI), through life cycle approach, age and dose specific IFA supplementation programme is being implemented for the prevention of anaemia among the vulnerable age groups like under-5 children, children of 6 – 10 years of age group, adolescents, pregnant & lactating women and women in reproductive age along with treatment of anaemic children and pregnant mothers at health facilities.

14. Capacity building of health care providers: Various trainings are being conducted under NHM to train doctors, nurses and ANMs for essential newborn care, early diagnosis and case management of common ailments of children. These trainings are on Navjaat Shishu, Suraksha Karyakram (NSSK), Integrated Management of Neonatal and Childhood Illnesses (IMNCI), Facility Based Newborn Care (FBNC), Infant and Young Child Feeding practices (IYCF), etc.

15. Universal Immunization Programme (UIP) covers about 13.5 crore children for vaccination against seven vaccine preventable diseases, through 90 lakh immunization sessions each year.

16. To sharpen the focus on vulnerable and marginalized populations in underserved areas, 184 High Priority Districts have been identified for implementation of Reproductive Maternal Newborn Child Health+ Adolescent (RMNCH+A) interventions for achieving improved maternal and child health outcomes.

References:

Press Information Bureau/ Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, 28 April, 2015 (please click here to access) 

 

Press Information Bureau/ Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, 28 April, 2015 (please click here to access)


MDG India Country Report 2015, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (please click here to access) 

MDGs: A neglected agenda for inclusiveness (please click here to access) 

India’s unrealised maternity entitlement -Vanita Leah Falcao & Jasmeet Khanuja, The Hindu, 28 March, 2015 (please click here to access)

Shri J P Nadda launches “Mission Indradhanush”, Press Information Bureau, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, 25 December, 2015 (please click here to access) 

Universal Immunization Programme (please click here to access)

Mission Indradhanush (please click here to access)
 
Mission Indradhanush (please click here to know more)

 

Of Bold Strokes and Fine Prints: Analysis of Union Budget 2015-16 -Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability (CBGA) (please click here to access) 


Half of India's kids do not get vaccines, India Today, 14 May, 2015 (please click here to access)

58% immunisation rate in rural areas, 67 pc in urban: Govt, Zee News, 12 May, 2015 (please click here to access)

India's mission to fight child mortality -Prof. Ramanan Laxminarayan and Dr Vinod Paul, IBNLive.com, 13 May, 2015 (please click here to access)
 
 
Image: UNDP India


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