India has registered decline in infant mortality rate in 2016: Government

New Delhi: India has registered three points decline in Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) to 34 per 1,000 live births in 2016 from 37 per 1,000 live births in 2015, an official statement said on Friday.

According to the SRS Bulletin, last year, the IMR only saw a two point decline. 

"Not only this, India also recorded a major drop in birth cohort, which has for the first time come down to below 25 million. India has registered 90,000 fewer infant deaths in 2016 as compared to 2015. The total number of estimated infant deaths have come down from 9,30,000 (9.3 lakhs) in 2015 to 8,40,000 (8.4 laks) in 2016," said the statement.

SRS Bulletin says that the gender gap in India for child survival is reducing steadily. 

"The gender difference between female and male IMR has now reduced to less than 10 per cent giving a major boost to the 'Beti Bachao Beti Padhao' scheme of the Government," said the statement, adding that its strategic approach has started yielding dividends and the efforts of focusing on low performing states is paying off. 

"Among the Empowered Action Group states and Assam, all states except Uttarakhand have reported decline in IMR in comparison to 2015. The decline is reported as four points in Bihar, three points in Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand and two points decline in Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Rajasthan," said the statement.

These remarkable achievements in merely one year is also the result of countrywide efforts to increase the health service coverage.

The coverage has been through various initiatives of the government that includes strengthening of service delivery; quality assurance; RMNCH+A; human resources, community processes; information and knowledge; drugs and diagnostics, and supply chain management.

(With Agency inputs)