Kerala as good as US, OECD in saving newborn children
Global Comparison
Courtesy: The Times of India
- Indian Rate 7 Times Worse Than Best State: Kerala's infant mortality rate (IMR) the number of children under the age of 1 who die for every 1,000 born has been brought down to 6, a level equal to that of the US and the average for the developed nations, according to the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) of 2015-16.
- To put that number in perspective, if India, with a current IMR of 41 could get it down to 6, about seven lakh children would be saved each year.
- Kerala had been struggling over the past decade to bring down the IMR to a single digit from 12 where it was stuck from 2009 onwards according to the Sample Registration Survey (SRS) conducted by the office of the registrar of census. In the last NFHS done in 2005-06, Kerala's IMR was 15.An IMR of 6 is lower than that of countries like Russia (8), China (9), Sri Lanka (8) and Brazil (15).
- Kerala continues to be way ahead of other Indian states on this measure, the closest big state to it being Tamil Nadu with an IMR of 21.
Best and Worst Places for Newborns
Best States | Worst States |
---|---|
Kerala - 06 | Chhattisgarh - 54 |
Tamil Nadu - 21 | Bihar - 48 |
Maharashtra - 24 | Assam - 48 |
West Bengal - 27 | Jharkhand - 44 |
Karnataka - 28 | Rajasthan - 44 |
Global Comparison
Country | IMR |
---|---|
European Union | 4 |
US | 6 |
OECD | 6 |
Russia | 8 |
China | 9 |
Brazil | 15 |
India | 41 |
Courtesy: The Times of India