Joseph Alexander, May 06, 2011
As many as 5000 children die in India every day and 1.8 million an year, before they reach the age of five, according to a study by leading NGO World Vision.
The underlying cause of 60 per cent of these deaths is malnutrition and prevalence of underweight among children in India. About a third of India’s children are born already malnourished with low birth weight, about 46 per cent of children under five are underweight, 48 per cent are stunted, 20 per cent are wasted and 70 per cent are anaemic, says the report titled `Breaking barriers to health care for children.’
“Growing inequalities between income and social groups combined with massive shortfalls in primary health care and the rising cost of care is derailing India from achieving the Millennium Development Goals 4 & 5. We are witnessing what could be described as health ‘apartheid’, where families in least-developed states and rural areas are forced to fend with sub-standard and inadequate public health facilities. It is a shameful reality that a child’s chance of survival may depend simply on where they are born,” it says.
Among the 81 per cent of children under six who are in areas covered by an anganwadi centre, only one-third receive some kind of services from the centre. The country’s other large health programme, the National Rural Health Mission (NHRM), has achieved some measure of success. However, it is yet to deliver on the objective of establishing a reliable, fully-functioning public health system for India’s vast rural population, the report points out.
“Over the past 3 decades child deaths have declined, from 116 deaths per 1,000 births in 1990, to 69 in 2008. In the same period infant deaths (during first year of life) declined from 83 to 52 per 1,000 live births. Notwithstanding these gains, India is off-track to meet Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 4 & 5 which aim to reduce infant deaths by two-thirds and improve maternal health respectively,” the report says.
The other gaps include, infrastructure facilities, equipment and resources, supply of drugs and food supply, facility for children below three years, participation of community, coordination between departments, poor funding, information education and communication etc.
“The reality is public investment in healthcare remains woefully low despite these massive schemes. In 2004 the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government committed to increased spending to 2-3 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) on health by 2012. However current public spending on health care in India is only 1.06 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2009-10, among the lowest in the world and higher only than Burundi, Myanmar, Pakistan, Sudan, and Cambodia,” it says.
Given the trend towards private care there is a real need to introduce regulations for private practitioners. Many small private providers have poor knowledge and training bases, and sometimes follow harmful and ineffective treatment practices, according to World Vision.
Tackling the major child-killer diseases does not require expensive or high-tech treatments. The chief problem is lack of access to quality primary healthcare where it is most needed. Our focus group discussion with women, community members and service providers, provided insight into the underlying factors influencing the utilization of MNCH services, it said. “There are barriers on the supply side such as physical distance to health facilities, lack of medical personnel and non-availability of drugs,” the report added.
http://www.pharmabiz.com/NewsDetails.aspx?aid=62736&sid=1
As many as 5000 children die in India every day and 1.8 million an year, before they reach the age of five, according to a study by leading NGO World Vision.
The underlying cause of 60 per cent of these deaths is malnutrition and prevalence of underweight among children in India. About a third of India’s children are born already malnourished with low birth weight, about 46 per cent of children under five are underweight, 48 per cent are stunted, 20 per cent are wasted and 70 per cent are anaemic, says the report titled `Breaking barriers to health care for children.’
“Growing inequalities between income and social groups combined with massive shortfalls in primary health care and the rising cost of care is derailing India from achieving the Millennium Development Goals 4 & 5. We are witnessing what could be described as health ‘apartheid’, where families in least-developed states and rural areas are forced to fend with sub-standard and inadequate public health facilities. It is a shameful reality that a child’s chance of survival may depend simply on where they are born,” it says.
Among the 81 per cent of children under six who are in areas covered by an anganwadi centre, only one-third receive some kind of services from the centre. The country’s other large health programme, the National Rural Health Mission (NHRM), has achieved some measure of success. However, it is yet to deliver on the objective of establishing a reliable, fully-functioning public health system for India’s vast rural population, the report points out.
“Over the past 3 decades child deaths have declined, from 116 deaths per 1,000 births in 1990, to 69 in 2008. In the same period infant deaths (during first year of life) declined from 83 to 52 per 1,000 live births. Notwithstanding these gains, India is off-track to meet Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 4 & 5 which aim to reduce infant deaths by two-thirds and improve maternal health respectively,” the report says.
The other gaps include, infrastructure facilities, equipment and resources, supply of drugs and food supply, facility for children below three years, participation of community, coordination between departments, poor funding, information education and communication etc.
“The reality is public investment in healthcare remains woefully low despite these massive schemes. In 2004 the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government committed to increased spending to 2-3 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) on health by 2012. However current public spending on health care in India is only 1.06 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2009-10, among the lowest in the world and higher only than Burundi, Myanmar, Pakistan, Sudan, and Cambodia,” it says.
Given the trend towards private care there is a real need to introduce regulations for private practitioners. Many small private providers have poor knowledge and training bases, and sometimes follow harmful and ineffective treatment practices, according to World Vision.
Tackling the major child-killer diseases does not require expensive or high-tech treatments. The chief problem is lack of access to quality primary healthcare where it is most needed. Our focus group discussion with women, community members and service providers, provided insight into the underlying factors influencing the utilization of MNCH services, it said. “There are barriers on the supply side such as physical distance to health facilities, lack of medical personnel and non-availability of drugs,” the report added.
http://www.pharmabiz.com/NewsDetails.aspx?aid=62736&sid=1
Oh' so sad to hear that. I hope the time comes that there will be no one suffer from malnutrition.
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