India has made steady progress in reduction of under-five mortality rate from 126/1000 live births in 1990 to 49/1000 live births in 2013 as per the sample registration system report issued by the Registrar General of India.
Health Minister JP Nadda stated this in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha here today
India may come close to achieving MDG-4 target of under 5 mortality rate of 42/1000 live births, provided the current trend of annual decline of 6.6 percent continues.
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has adopted an integrated approach for reproductive, maternal, new born, child and adolescent health in India to address the major causes of mortality among women and children as well as the delays in accessing and utilising health care and services.
Increasingly emphasis is on establishing the 'continuum of care', which includes integrated service delivery in various life stages including the adolescence, pre-pregnancy, childbirth and postnatal period, childhood and through reproductive age.
The Ministry has identified bottom 25% of the districts according to the composite index based on available evaluated data on representative maternal and child health indicators.
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The LWE and tribal districts falling in bottom 50% were also declared as the "high priority districts" (HPD). Currently, 184 districts fall under this category.
The HPDs have been identified for intensification of efforts which are being supported through interventions like gap analysis, relaxation of norms for strengthening service delivery, priority interventions through life cycle approach, special strategies, packages and incentives and demand generation.
To expedite all these measures, 30% higher financial allocation has been mandated for these districts. In order to monitor, the progress made by HPDs, a composite index has been developed representing the various phases of life-cycle.