September 22, 2018:
India witness 8,02,000 infant deaths, followed by Nigeria at 4,66,000, Pakistan and China 3,30,000 and Democratic Republic of Congo 2,33,000.
Three infants die every two minutes on an average in India due to lack of access to water, sanitation, proper nutrition or basic health services, according to a report by the United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UNIGME).
According to the Report, about 8,02,000 infant deaths were reported in India in 2017, the lowest in five years, but infant death numbers still remained the highest in the world, followed by China at 3,30,000.
Dr Gagan Gupta, Chief of Health at World Health Organization stated that, India is making good progress in combatting reasons leading to infant deaths through a number of government-led initiatives.
He further added that,"It has to be taken into consideration that India has a birth rate of 25 million every year and the number of infant deaths have come down and is lowest in five years. This is also the first time that the number of deaths under five is equal to a number of births. The next step would be reducing the number of deaths".
Dr Gupta stated that,"About 18 per cent of children born globally are from India".
He further explains that,"Main reasons behind infant deaths remain to be lack of access to water, sanitation, proper nutrition or basic health services".
Infant deaths were reported highest in the World in India, followed by Nigeria at 4,66,000, Pakistan 3,30,000 and Democratic Republic of Congo 2,33,000 (DRC).
UNIGME report stated that, 6,05,000 neonatal deaths were reported in India in 2017, while the number of deaths among children aged 5-14 was 1,52,000.
Source Agencies
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