About 400,000 children still die within the first 24 hours of life every year in India. About two million children die annually before they reach the age of five. Does this concern urban Indians?
Yes, quite a few. An international NGO, Save the Children, found in a survey that Indians in metropolitan cities were concerned and wanted to help remedy this. A majority, 57 per cent, would forgo a meal if that can save a child from dying. About a fifth are ready to give a day’s earnings for this.
The survey was done in 14 developed and developing nations and incorporated in the NGO’s annual report, to be released on Monday. So will the UN human development report. The survey on Indians covered a sample of adults between the ages of 18 and 54 years of age, living in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Pune and Ahmedabad.
| TIGHT FIST | |||
| National Family Health Survey | 1992-93 | 1998-99 | 2005-06 |
| Under-five mortality rate | 109 | 95 | 74 |
| Neonatal mortality rate | 49 | 43 | 39 |
| Infant mortality rate | 79 | 68 | 57 |
| (In every 1,000 live births) | |||
According to the survey, half of all Indians thought poverty was the greatest threat to the lives of children, while 21 per cent thought environment and climate change were. About 11 per cent thought unemployment was the greatest threat.
In China, crime and climate change emerged as the greatest threat to children’s lives, in the perception of respondents. Only 14 per cent regarded poverty as the greatest threat. China was the only one of the 14 countries surveyed where poverty emerged s a lesser concern compared to crime and environmental factors.
There were, in all, 1,000 Indian respondents. As mentioned earlier, about 57 per cent said they could skip a meal to save the live of child they had never met. About 18 per cent were more generous and were ready to forgo a day’s earnings. Four per cent were ready to give up their house for such a cause, though no one was willing to give up a new car. About five per cent were read to give up a holiday.
In the case of developed countries like Canada, the number of people ready to help were fewer. While 18 per cent were ready to skip a meal, 19 per cent were ready to give up a day’s earnings and 15 per cent to give up their holiday. Five per cent each were ready for giving up a new house or a new car.
In Pakistan, 48 per cent were ready to give up a meal and 10 per cent to give up a day’s earnings.
More people in China than in any of the other counties were ready to forgo their day’s earnings, about 37 per cent. The largest number of those willing to sacrifice their vacation for a child were from Italy, 28 per cent.
The report in its section on India emphasises the urgency of the need to bring down infant mortality through home-based interventions for both mothers and newborns, since two million children die annually before they reach the age of five years. It says malnutrition was a major cause and India should push the cause of equity and inclusion to achieve a breakthrough in its attempts to take nutrition and healthcare to pregnant women and children under the age of five.
It says India needs to make the survival of child and mother the main development indicator and move out of the bracket of six countries which have the highest infant mortality rate. About nine million children die before the age of five across the world. India accounts for a fifth of these children.
India, notes the report, should emulate countries like Bangladesh, which has a lower per capita income but made continuous gains in lowering infant mortality. It cites Unicef figures to say that while in India the under-five mortality rate per 1,000 live births is 72, it is 61 in Bangladesh. The average annual rate of reduction between 1990 and 2007 in India was only 2.9 per cent, while it was 5.3 per cent in Bangladesh. The infant mortality rate per 1000 live births is 54 in India and 47 in Bangladesh, although the gross national income per capita (2007) is $950 for India and only $470 for Bangladesh.
