Low birth weight and preterm delivery cause most newborn deaths in India
As per an IndiaSpend analysis of census data, the death of every other newborn in India is due to either low birth weight(LBW) or premature delivery. This is a reflection of the poor maternal health and an inadequate healthcare system.
India reports the highest number of neo-natal mortality in the world: about 7,00000 every year. That’s 29 per 1,000 births. This accounts for 26 per cent of neo-natal deaths in the world.
The figures for child mortality are also high in the country. Between 1990 and 2015 more children in the 0 to 5 age bracket have died in India than anywhere else in the world. Even though child mortality has decreased by 62 percent over these years, the number is still high at 1.3 million every year.
In India, among all the infants who died before they completed 29 days since birth, 48.1 per cent suffered from LBW and premature birth, as per a 2010-13 report. The figure was 35.9 per cent for children under one year of age and 29.8 per cent for those in the 0 to 4 age group.
The two causes led to the most number of deaths of children between the ages of 0 and 4. However, between 1 and 4 years, they didn’t even figure in the top 10 factors. Meaning, 0 to1 is the most vulnerable period in childhood.
Poor maternal health
The three underlying reasons for LBW could all be traced to the mother: poor nutritional status before conception, short stature (caused mostly by under-nutrition and infections during childhood) and also poor nutrition at pregnancy, according to an expert.
The same points were corroborated by research involving 350 mothers that was conducted by the Rohilkhand Medical College in Uttar Pradesh. That study showed that 40 percent of expectant mothers delivered LBW children while 76.5 percent of them had a gestational age lower than 37 weeks. 58.5 per cent of these mothers were below 20 years of age while 76.1 per cent weighed less than 50 kg.
Incidence of LBW- India third highest in the world
In 2013, as many as 22 million newborns-about 16 percent of babies born globally had LBW. With 28 per cent, India had the third highest percentage of LBW newborns. Also, except for Pakistan India performed worse than all its South Asian neighbours, But Unicef has cautioned that the data may be inaccurate due to under-reporting.
India has the largest number of preterm births in the world
Every year, there are an estimated 15 million preterm births in the world. And with 3.5 million, India accounted for the most number of preterm births in the world. China, which was the second had 1.17 million preterm births.
India’s Newborn Action Plan and how it works
The India Newborn Action Plan(INAP) was launched in September 2014 with the aim of ending preventable newborn deaths and stillbirths by 2030. The plan also aims to attain single-digit neo-natal mortality and stillbirth rate by 2030.
INAP’s main strategy is called Kangaroo Mother Care(KMC). It creates a womb-like environment for the newborn which provides the baby’s four basic needs- warmth, food, love and protection. It benefits all newborns, especially those who are preterm or suffer from LBW. Usually, KMC is advocated for all newborns weighing less than 2.5 kg at birth. But in India, owing to the huge burden of LBW, INAP has recommended facility-based KMC for newborns with birth weights less than 2 kg on a priority basis.
In October 2015, IndiaSpend has reported that India has cut neonatal tetanus mortality by 99.76 per cent and was declared as maternal and neonatal tetanus-free by the WHO.
Image credits: cnn.com