Centre claims life-saving success

There is steady improvement in the infant mortality rate (IMR) in India. The latest figures provided by the registrar general of India (RGI) show the country’s IMR has gone down by three points over the last one year. It has dropped from 53/1000 live births in 2008 to 50/1000 in 2009.

The main reasons for the success are said to be increased institutional deliveries and improved neo-natal care.

IMR is the number of deaths of children less than a year old per 1,000 live births in a given year.

Despite the overall decrease in IMR there are about nine states that have IMR higher than the national average even though these states have made remarkable improvement compared to their own standards. These states include Goa, Kerala, Manipur, Puducherry, Daman and Diu.

Maharashtra (31), Karnataka (41), Gujarat (48) are some of the states that have done very well in saving the new borns and infants.

“Though the IMR is improving, the government needs to focus more on the 264 districts identified across the country since they are less developed on health parameters. Apart from this, the ministry needs to focus on nine least-developed states like Jharkhand, Orissa and Uttar Pradesh in order to meet the millennium development goals (MDG),” said Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad.

The Centre is contemplating encouraging home deliveries in areas where health care is inadequate, he said.

India hopes to reduce its IMR to 30 by 2012. This rate is often an indicator of a country’s level of health. Norway, Canada, Italy, USA, UK are some of the countries with very good IMRs.