Alarming Rise In The Female Child Mortality Rate In India

Similar studies were conducted by government agencies earlier which revealed that gender bias by parents is another reason for increase in infant death.  Faujdar Ram, director of International Institute of Population Sciences, Mumbai, said that in India when a child is sick parents show discrimination in the way of treatment. Boy child is provided with better medical treatment and food, whereas girls are not given much preference.   

The UN Millennium Development Goal has advised India to work on reducing the number of under- five mortality by 2015 to 38 per 1000 births. But it is believed that the country would be able to reach the United Nation’s target only by the year 2020. 

“Diarrhoea, pneumonia and high rates of malnutrition and micronutrient deficiencies are common causes and contributing factors to post-neonatal deaths. The contribution of pneumonia is high because of persistent difficulties in access to treatment,” said M K Bhan, a former professor of paediatrics at All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi.

There is also a growing concern over undeveloped states as the mortality rate is higher in these states.  Majority of the districts in the Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh need special attention from the government. These districts average 37 percent of under-five deaths every year.

Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkand, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, and Uttar Pradesh together comprise half of the country’s population and births. Unfortunately, 71 percent of the births from these places lead to under-five deaths.