Here’s good news: the infant mortality rate (IMR) has further dropped by three points from 47 to 44 infants deaths per 1,000 live births during 2011.
According to the recent data by the Registrar General of India (RGI), the national decline is hugely contributed by the high focus states. Both Bihar and Uttar Pradesh (UP) has seen a decline by 4 points. Prior to 2005, the high focus states experienced stagnation as far as the IMR is concerned. States with the highest IMR are Madhya Pradesh (59), Uttar Pradesh and Orissa (57), Assam (55), Rajasthan and Meghalaya both (52), Chhattisgarh (48). On the other hand, Goa continued to record lowest IMR, followed by Manipur (11), Kerala (12), Puducher-ry (19), Chandigarh (20) and Nagaland (21).
The IMR for the rural areas has dropped too by three points from 51 to 48. The urban IMR, likewise, showed a drop of 2 points (29) as compared to last year of 31 points in 2010.
Officials in the health ministry say that if the trend continues, it will be easier to achieve the target of 30 points by 2015 as stipulated under the Millennium Development Goals (MDG).
According to SRS 2011, among all major states Maharashtra has seen the largest percentage decline in IMR of 14.7 per cent, followed by Punjab (11.5 per cent), Karnataka and Kerala (10.3 per cent), TN (9.3 per cent) and Bihar (8.1 per cent). The annual rate of decline has been 6.2 per cent. Citing that the new initiatives have yielded positive results, Ms Anuradha Gupta, additional secretary in the health ministry and mission director, NRHM said that the best is yet to come. “New schemes like home-based new born care has been rolled out and the results will further accelerate the trend of downfall,” she said.