Over 1 million children under 5 die in India every year: Govt

NEW DELHI: Around 1.26 million children under five years of age die in India every year with prematurity and neonatal infections being the major causes accounting for almost 57% of the total deaths, the government informed the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.
"57 percent of under-five deaths occur in neonatal period, which is within the first 28 days of life, the major causes being prematurity and low birth-weight, neonatal infections, birth asphyxia and birth trauma," health minister J P Nadda said in a written reply to the House.
In the post-neonatal period, pneumonia and diarrhoea are found to be the major reasons for under five mortality. Over 3.8 lakh new cases of pneumonia among children annually, India tops the list of 15 countries in terms of total under-five deaths due to the disease, Nadda said in response to another question.
Besides India, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Angola, China, Afghanistan, Indonesia, Kenya, Sudan, Bangladesh, Niger, Chad, and Uganda comprised the 15-nation list.
Highlighting the need for vaccinations and institutional deliveries to reduce the neonatal as well as infant mortality, Nadda said the government has taken a decision to provide free vaccination of pneumococcal conjugate (PCV) to children.
"The National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation has recommended introduction of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine in Universal Immunisation Programme in three doses at six weeks, 14 weeks and booster at nine months," he said.
The proposal to introduce the vaccine in a phased manner has been approved by the 'mission steering group' under the health ministry’s flagship National Health Mission. The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI) has agreed to support PCV introduction by providing PCV for 20% cohort for three years, Nadda said.
For a focused approach, the government has also identified 184 high priority districts for implementation of Reproductive Maternal Newborn Child Health+ Adolescent (RMNCH+A) interventions for achieving improved maternal and child health outcomes.
Apart from the ongoing programmes, Nadda said the Centre is also working on newer interventions to reduce newborn mortality.
The government has also initiated an SMS based electronic vaccine intelligence network (e-VIN) to enable real time monitoring of vaccine stocks at 4,476 cold chain storage points across all 160 districts of three states - Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.
The infant mortality rate (IMR) in India is pegged at 40 per 1000 live births while the Neonatal Mortality Rate is 28 per 1000 live births.