NEW DELHI: Lauding India’s efforts leading to a fall in under-five mortality counts to below one million, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Wednesday that the feat was possible due to a series of initiatives, including administering every child with life-saving vaccines under ‘Mission Indradhanush’.
A report by the United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UNIGME) said the under-five mortality rate in India recorded a positive trend and for the first time in five years, the under-five mortality count was recorded below one million in 2017 at 9,89,000.
In 2016, the under-five mortality was recorded at 1.08 million in India.
WHO Regional Director for South-East Asia Poonam Khetrapal Singh said as outlined in a report released by the UNIGME, India’s share of global child deaths has reduced from 22 per cent in 2012 to 18 per cent in 2017 — a rate that outpaces the global decline.
“India’s remarkable achievement was made possible via a series of initiatives the Health Ministry has taken in recent years, including to vaccinate each and every child with life-saving vaccines under Mission Indradhanush and to expand the reach of diarrhea and pneumonia management across the country, with a focus on vulnerable and hard-to-reach populations,” Singh said. (AGENCIES)
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