Commenting on the recently released fifth round of National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) data for 17 states and five Union Territories (UTs) in an article published in The Indian Express (dated 6th January, 2021), Arvind Subramanian and his co-authors have stated that India has made progress on certain outcomes, including infant mortality rate (IMR), under-five mortality rate (U5MR) and Neonatal Mortality rate (NNMR). Relying on various rounds of NFHS data,...

-Livemint.com * The Neonatal Mortality rate (NMR) slipped in 15 states and UTs in comparison to NFHS-4 (2015-16) * The survey also found considerable improvement in vaccination coverage among children age 12-23 months across all states/UTs The Under 5 and infant mortality rate (IMR) has come down in 18 states and union territories but in parallel 16 states recorded an increase in underweight and severely wasted under 5 children among 22 states that...

-The Indian Express A well-educated woman’s chances of making informed decisions and exercising greater agency in the household is monumental in breaking the cycle of poverty, ill health, as well as malnutrition. India’s Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) stands at 122 as per the latest Sample Registration System (SRS) bulletin from last year — a significant decline from an MMR of 556 in 1990. A parallel decrease in the prevalence of child marriage...

-The Hindu Worldwide, one child/young adolescent died every 5 seconds in 2018, says UN inter-agency group India is among the few countries in the world where, in 2018, the mortality under-5 years of girls, exceeded that of boys, according to the ‘Levels and Trends in Child Mortality’ report by the United Nations (UN) inter-agency group for child mortality. The global report states that in 2018 fewer countries showed gender disparities in child mortality,...

-Frontline.in Optimal feeding of infants is fundamental to tackling the burden of malnutrition. The release of the Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey (CNNS 2016-2018) has renewed interest in tackling malnutrition in India. The conceptual framework for child undernutrition, developed by UNICEF, recognises breastfeeding, good complementary feeding, caring and health care to minimise disease burden as immediate underlying factors that determine malnutrition in all its forms. According to the CNNS, 35 per cent of the...