Says the country has saved millions of lives through strategic investments in its health system
India’s efforts and progress in reducing
preventable child deaths has been lauded as “exemplar” by the United Nations,
which cited the example of health initiatives such as Ayushman Bharat, and said
the country has saved millions of young lives through strategic investments in
its health system.
The United Nations Inter-Agency Group for
Child Mortality Estimation report, released on Tuesday, cited the example of
five “exemplar countries” in achieving child mortality reduction—India, Nepal,
Senegal, Ghana and Burundi—highlighting diverse strategies that have
accelerated progress in reducing preventable child deaths.
The report said these countries illustrate
that with “political will, evidence-based strategies and sustained investments,
even resource-constrained settings facing unique challenges can achieve
substantial reductions in mortality, bringing the world closer to an end to
preventable child deaths”.
On India, the report said the country has
made gains through health system investment.
“Through strategic investments in its
health system, India has already saved millions of young lives and paved the
way to ensure healthy lives for millions more,” it said.
The report highlighted that since 2000,
India achieved an under-five mortality reduction of 70 per cent and a neonatal
mortality reduction of 61 per cent, “driven by overlapping measures to increase
health coverage, enhance available interventions and develop health
infrastructure and human resources”, the report said.
It cited the example of Ayushman Bharat,
the world’s largest health insurance scheme which provides annual coverage of
nearly USD 5,500 per family per year.
It noted that every pregnant woman is
entitled to free delivery (including caesarean section), and infant care
provides free transport, medications, diagnostics and dietary support in public
health institutions.
To ensure comprehensive coverage and
equitable access to health services, India has strengthened infrastructure via
the establishment of maternity waiting homes, maternal and child health wings,
newborn stabilisation units, sick newborn care units, mother care units and a
dedicated programme for birth defect screening, the report said.
Further, it said that interventions like
antenatal corticosteroids for preterm labour, use of continuous positive airway
pressure and follow-up for vision and hearing help support newborn survival.
“This ensures millions of healthy
pregnancies and thriving live births each year. India has also prioritised the
training and deployment of skilled birth attendants, such as midwives and
community health workers, to provide appropriate maternal and child health services,”
it said.
The report noted that additionally, data
systems and digital surveillance of maternal, newborn and child health
indicators are continuously improved to support evidence-based decision-making.
It said that despite differing
geographies, economic conditions and health system structures, Nepal, Senegal,
India, Ghana and Burundi have all “outpaced” the global and their respective
regional declines in child mortality through “strong governance, strategic
investments in health and scale-up of evidence-based health interventions”.
“Common throughout these success stories
are strengthened health systems that prioritise universal access and
community-based care, data-driven decision making that ensures targeted
interventions and ongoing quality improvement, expanded immunisation and
maternal and newborn health programmes that prevent childhood illness and
provide a continuum of care from home to hospitals, and innovative health
financing models that provide sustainability and accessibility,” the report
said.
The UN agency also said that several low
and lower-middle-income countries have surpassed the global decline in
under-five mortality since 2000.
Angola, Bhutan, Bolivia, Cabo Verde,
India, Morocco, Senegal, Tanzania and Zambia have all cut their under-five
mortality rate by more than two thirds since 2000.
In 2000, the country with the highest
burden of under-five measles mortality was India, with only 56 per cent of
infants vaccinated for measles and 189,000 deaths from measles.
By 2023, the infant measles vaccination
rate had increased to 93 per cent, and under-five deaths due to the disease
decreased by 97 per cent to 5,200 measles-related deaths.
The report noted that the number of
children dying globally before their fifth birthday declined to 4.8 million in
2023, while stillbirths declined modestly, still remaining around 1.9 million.
Since 2000, child deaths have dropped by
more than half and stillbirths by over a third, fuelled by sustained
investments in child survival worldwide.
In 2022, the world reached a historic
milestone when child deaths dropped slightly below 5 million for the first
time. However, the progress has slowed and too many children are still being
lost to preventable causes.
“Millions of children are alive today
because of the global commitment to proven interventions, such as vaccines,
nutrition, and access to safe water and basic sanitation,” UNICEF Executive
Director Catherine Russell said.
“Bringing preventable child deaths to a
record low is a remarkable achievement. But without the right policy choices
and adequate investment, we risk reversing these hard-earned gains, with
millions more children dying from preventable causes. We cannot allow that to
happen,” Russell added.
No comments:
Post a Comment