Child Mortality

22.05.2008 In a recent campaign by the government in Bangladesh, 19 million children under the age of five have been administered life-saving vitamin A doses. Vitamin A deficiency increases the risk of diseases measles and diarrhoea, both contributing to more than one-third of child deaths in the country.

14.03.2008 Punjab province in Pakistan has very high mortality rates for newborns, as a very small percentage of births take place under the supervision of trained attendants. UNICEF is now training midwives to prevent such deaths.

19.02.2008 According to a new Wealth and Survival Index, India is one of the worst performers in cutting child mortality, given its national wealth. The new report by Save the Children UK says even the poorest of countries can attain child survival if they pursue the right policies.

16.10.2006 A workshop on protocols for neonatal care was held in Kochi, Kerala to streamline the management of second-level care given at hospitals and nursing homes.

10.10.2006 At the current rate of decline in the under-5 Infant Mortality Rate (IMR), India is not likely to achieve the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of bringing down the IMR to 40 per 1,000 live births for the year 2015, according to a UNICEF report.

04.09.2006 A family planning and population expert in Jaipur has called for a shift in the focus of the drive against female foeticide from the seizure of ultrasound machines and scanners in the clinics of doctors allegedly involved in sex determination tests to action against the medical professionals using these machines without having themselves registered or licensed under the law.

21.08.2006 Rajasthan has made significant reduction in Infant Mortality Rate(IMR) during 2004 which is the second highest in the country.

04.08.2006 At a meeting arranged by the Population Council of Pakistan at Islamabad on August 1, 2006, the government of Pakistan announced its decision to launch a Rs.27 billion mother and neonatal health project.

01.08.2006 AS shown by many researches, mothers should breast-feed their babies as far as possible, and there is no substitute for it.There is belief amongst some women that they would be ruining their bodies by breast-feeding their babies. Everything possible must be done to dispel this misconception.

24.07.2006 New international Child Growth Standards for infants and young children released by the World Health Organisation (WHO) confirm that children born anywhere in the world and given the optimum start in life have the potential to develop to within the same range of height and weight.

20.06.2006 Infant Mortality Rate (IMR), which is the highest in Andhra Pradesh among the Southern States, has stagnated at 62 per 1000 live births for the past decade and a half in spite of allocating huge amount of funds on health.

05.06.2006 The Health Ministry’s national mission against the illegal practice of killing of female fetuses, which has left India with 960 women to every 1000 men, is yet to take off as the ministry has not appointed an expert.

16.05.2006 Two recent government surveys on child health have thrown up mixed results – while India’s infant mortality rate is at its lowest ever, the news on immunisation coverage, especially in Uttar Pradesh, a state with some of the worst health indicators is not so good.

12.05.2006 New international Child Growth Standards for infants and young children released by the World Health Organisation (WHO) confirm that children born anywhere in the world and given the optimum start in life have the potential to develop to within the same range of height and weight.

10.05.2006 One third of infant deaths in Bhutan occurred because of low birth weight in newborns, according to a health ministry study.

02.05.2006 To deal with the problem of malnutrition, the Madhya Pradesh government has set up detection and nutrition rehabilitation centres across the state, supported by Unicef.

26.02.2006 Nizamabad district in Andhra Pradesh has gone a long way in reducing infant mortality rate and with 18.68 per cent IMR, it is in third position only after Kerala and Tamil Nadu in India.

07.02.2006 Millions of serious birth defects, mostly in developing countries, could be avoided with cheap and simple measures, says a report, by the US-based charity March of Dimes, is the first detailed global study of the problem.

05.01.2006 After decades of polio ravivars, it’s finally going to be Immunisation Week. For the first time, the Union Health Ministry is planning to go door to door to immunise children against six killer diseases before they turn one. These include diphtheria, tuberculosis, whooping cough, measles, polio and tetanus.

03.01.2006 NGOs working for welfare of women and children have urged the Madhya Pradesh Assembly to raise concern and take concrete actions on the high rates of maternal and infant morality in Madhya Pradesh.