‘Drop in mortality rate may have saved 1mn kids’
Nearly a million children may have survived in India in the years since 2005 due to reduction in mortality rates among those aged below five, according to a new study published in the journal Lancet.
These figures arise out of research conducted for the Million Death Study, focused on India.
According to the study, there was a 3.3% decline in morality rates among infants less than a month old (called neonates) and an even higher percentage, 5.4%, reduction in the figures for children aged between a month and up to 59 months. According to a release from St Michaels Hospital, “The declines accelerated starting in 2005 and were fastest between 2010 and 2015, and in urban areas and richer states. Per 1,000 live births, the mortality rates among neonates fell from 45 in 2000 to 27 in 2015. The one-59 month mortality rate fell from 45.2 to 19.6.”
There are other significant details: The gender gap in mortality rates within this demographic in India has also narrowed consistently and an “almost equal number of boys and girls under age five died in 2015.”
The study noted: “The rural– urban gap in 1–59-month mortality rates has also narrowed, but neonatal mortality is still substantially higher in rural than in urban areas. There are also differences in combating child mortality between more affluent and poorer states in the India.” While almost a million deaths were avoided, many more could also have been prevented. said Dr Prabhat Jha, who heads the Centre for Global Health Research at the city’s St Michael’s Hospital.
Per 1,000 live births, the mortality rates among neonates fell from 45 in 2000 to 27 in 2015. The one59 month mortality rate fell from 45.2 to 19.6.