Jaipur: Union Health Minister Gulam Nabi
Azad on Tuesday launched a nationwide "Navjaat Shishu Suraksha
Karyakram" (NSSK) aimed at reducing the Infant Mortality Rate
(IMR) from 55 to 30 by the year 2012.
Though the IMR in India had declined from 60 in 2003 to
55 in 2007, the NSSK would enable the paramedical staff to
save new born child and mother at various health centres
across the country, Azad told the inaugural function here.
As per a 2007 WHO statistics, India accounted for 2.2
million, maximum, of the 9.2 million under-five child deaths
in the world.
Of the nearly 26 million infants born each year, 0.9
million die before completing the first four weeks of life,
and 1.6 million die before reaching the first birthday, Azad
said quoting the WHO stats.
While two-third of the neo-natal deaths occurred in the
first week of life, two-third of those took place within the
first 24 hours due to non-availability of delivery
institutions in villages and smaller towns, he said adding the
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MHFW) would earmark a
budgetary support for training and infrastructure development.
Asserting that the principal causes of neonatal deaths,
included infection, complications related to premature birth,
pneumonia, diarrhoea and measles, he said, the NSSK aims at
addressing interventions of care at birth like prevention of
hypothermia and infection, and basic newborn resuscitation.
He called upon the medical fraternity to take up the
programme as a mission so that IMR could be reduced.
Bureau Report
