SANCHITA SHARMA

More children in India are getting immunised against vaccine-preventable illnesses than ever before, but progress remains mixed and a lot more needs to be done to prevent illnesses among poor and marginalised children in both urban and rural areas, according to a new report.

The Pneumonia and Diarrhoea Progress Report 2018, which tracks efforts to being down deaths from the two preventable diseases that killed 1.36 million under-5 children – one in four under-5 child deaths globally – said 70% of the global deaths continue to occur in 15 countries, including India.

With 26 million births every year, it was not surprising that India had the most pneumonia and diarrhoea deaths with 260,990 children dying in 2016, followed by Nigeria and Pakistan. What was worrying was that India tied with Pakistan for the seventh place among 15