The Biggest Achievement A Nation Can Flaunt About Is A Drop In Its Infant Mortality Rate

“Infant Mortality and Life Expectancy are reasonable indicators of general well-being in a society” -P J ORourke

A recent report announced that Mumbai’s infant mortality rate has dipped to 25 per 1000 live births in 2018 as compared to 26 the three previous years. This figure is a major improvement for the nation where the average rate is 34. Out of a total 1.51 Lakh births in 2018, the city saw a drop from 4079 infant deaths in 2017 to 3723 deaths in 2018. Thanks to the strengthening peripheral facilities like neonatal care, birthing facilities and an exponential rise in institutional deliveries, the society is slowing moving towards achieving a low infant mortality rate. According to the most recent SRS report the gender gap in India for child survival is reducing steadily. The credit to this achievement definitely goes to the strategic efforts from the Ministry in implementing movements like ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ apart from the advanced awareness from various medical and educational institutes.

Neonatal mortality rates still remain high with babies born under 28 weeks accounting to about 60% of deaths in India. While the awareness about prenatal and neonatal care has increased in both Urban and Rural areas because of investments in public health, there is a long way to go before we actually educate our en mass about the mandate to care for pregnant women in due course of pregnancy. Social media is playing its small role of creating that awareness and digital apps like Babychakra and similar platforms are doing their due diligence of educating its users by giving them access and pointers to relevant information and guidance through the journey of pregnancy and parenting by means of free medical advices and research based articles.

The role of technology might seem small today but with the pace at which smartphones are reaching every hook and corner of the world, these apps with their multi vernacular ability will soon reach every household and contribute big time in creating that missing awareness and further help in bringing down the mortality rate.

“There is no foot too small that it cannot leave an imprint behind” .

Source: Information has been taken from livemint, pib.nic.in and timesofindia

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