KOTTAYAM: The
increasing rate of infant's death has become a cause for concern of
Kerala which rose from 12 to 16 deaths per 1,000 infants in last two
years.
According
to the data provided by Health Minister V S Sivakumar, Kerala has
recorded 9,005 infant's death from April 2011 to December 2013, in
which districts of central Kerala including Kottayam, Ernakulam,
Idukki, Alappuzha and Pathanamthitta have recorded 2,184 deaths
collectively.
Dr P
Savida, Child Specialist at Institute of Child Health, Kottayam cited
the reasons for increase in Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) are
adolescent motherhood, gap between child birth and maternal nutrition
status.
She
explains: “A child born within one year of the previous child, have
high risk of dying, it became double if the previous child has died.
Another reason for the deaths is obesity of mother, if she has less
than 18 kg of Body Mass Index, the chances of her child to die are
more.”
Although
Kerala has ranked 1st among other states of having lowest
IMR in the country (2011 census), the rapid growth of child deaths
has reached an alarming position, admit officials of the Health
Ministry. As per a survey by the Planning Commission of India, Kerala
is now on the 3rd slot after Goa and Manipur, which have
an IMR of 10 deaths per 1,000 children each.
“We
are conducting regular programmes in every district hospitals to
educate mothers about the maternal care, as many of them doesn't know
what to do and what not to do at the time of pregnancy,” said Dr
Savida.
India
is improving considerably in maintaining a low IMR from 47 in 2010 to
42 in 2013 but the target of achieving IMR-4 till 2015 (set by the
government) seems quite impossible at this stage as major parts of
the country is lagging the basic facilities in social, economical
and educational fields.
