India registers significant decline in Infant Mortality Rate (IMR)
September 30 , 2017 2613 days 1370 0
The SRS bulletin report says, IMR of India has declined by three points (8% decline), from 37 per 1000 live births in 2015 to 34 per 1000 live births in 2016, compared to two points decline last year.
India also recorded a major drop in birth cohort, which has for the first time come down to below 25 million.
The gender gap in India for child survival is reducing steadily. The gender difference between female and male IMR has now reduced to <10%, giving a major boost to the ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ scheme of the Government.
Among the EAG(EmpoweredAction Group) States and Assam, all States except Uttarakhand have reported decline in IMR in comparison to 2015.
Background
Infant mortality rateis the number of deaths of children under one year of age per 1000 live births.
The EmpoweredAction Group (EAG) set up to facilitate preparation of area-specific programmes in eight States, namely, Bihar, Jharkhand, UP, Uttarakhand, MP, Chhattisgarh, Orissa and Rajasthan which have lagged behind in containing population growth to manageable levels, held its first Business Session on 2001 under the Chairmanship of the Minister for Health and Family Welfare.
The Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao (BBBP) scheme was launched on January 2015.It aims to address the issue of the declining child sex ratio image (CSR) and is a national initiative jointly run by the Ministry of Women and Child Development-the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare - the Ministry of Human Resource Development.