ELECTIONS '98
COMMENTARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ARCHIVES

MP tops infant mortality list

Despite its claims of initiating several health programmes, Madhya Pradesh has earned the dubious distinction of the state with the highest infant mortality rate in the country.

It recorded an IMR of 97 per 100,000 against the national average of 72. This was mainly due to the prevalence of malnutrition, inefficient health infrastructure and low status accorded to female literacy in the state.

The IMR in MP's rural areas is 102, the highest in the country. And in urban areas it is 61, placing the state on the third slot after Uttar Pradesh and Orissa in this category.

Madhya Pradesh ranks second in the country in birth rate -- 32.4 per cent -- and tops the death rate at 11.1 per cent.

Sumitra, a daily wage earner, says her first child was born just a year after her marriage at the tender age of 14. It was underweight and died within three months. Her second child too died within two years. She feels the children could have been saved if she was literate and better health services were rendered.

According to a UNICEF report, more than 55 per cent of the children in the state are malnourished. The problem is even more crippling among infants. A study conducted by the National Family Health Survey revealed that only 28 per cent of the children in the age group of six to nine months receive solid and soft food to compliment breast milk. Only 31.4 per cent of infants below four months receive breast milk.

The maternal mortality rate is also at a high 711 in the state (the national average is 453), clearly indicating the lack of adequate facilities for proper care during pregnancy and after delivery. In rural areas, hospitals do not have adequate beds or trained personnel for obstetrical care.

The UNICEF report pointed out that the low female literacy rate (28.8 per cent) correlated with the high IMR. Because of extreme backwardness and other social taboos, gender discrimination was high, especially in tribal districts.

Child marriages are also rampant in certain districts. The mothers, many of them in early teens, are themselves undernourished.

. Besides, the total fertility rate gives the average number of births per woman at 4.4 compared to the national index of 3.6.

''Too many births too close together are a major cause of illness, disability, poor nutrition and premature deaths among children,'' a health care official said.

The state government is now taking steps to tackle the situation, he claimed. The Integrated Child Development Service programmes are being extended to the most vulnerable groups, children, pregnant women and nursing mothers.

He claimed that the immunisation programmes have been carried out successfully in various districts. New strategies for neo natal tetanus control have also shown encouraging results.

The spokesman pointed out that Bhind district had 90 reported cases of NNT in 1995-96. This was the highest in the state. Last year, the number of cases had declined to just five.

The administration of Jhabua district took a lead in developing a strategy for maximising the reach of ICD services to the tribal children and women living in widely scattered hamlets. The scheme, named Poriyawadi, was expanded to cover the small villages and hamlets of the districts's 12 blocks.

UNI

Tell us what you think of this report