Children are dying within 7 days of birth in India, claims study

In India, most of the deaths of children under five years of age are occurring during the early neonatal period (first 7 days) and post neonatal period (29 days to 11 months). This claim has been made in new research published in JAMA Network Open.

The birth of a child is the happiest moment for every family. This is no less than any festival. You go to any corner of the world and you will definitely see this. But these moments of happiness turn into moments of mourning for some when the child dies just a few days after birth. A new research claims that in India, most of the deaths of children under five years of age are occurring during the first 7 days to 11 months.

This research has been published in JAMA Network Open. This study is based on the analysis of more than 2.3 lakh deaths of children under 5 years of age recorded in all five reports of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS). The results of the five NFHS reports were released in 1993, 1999, 2006, 2016 and 2021. According to the study, the maximum decrease in child deaths was observed between 1993 and 2021. Whereas in 1993 the number of deaths was 33.5 per 1,000 children, it came down to 6.9 per 1,000 children in 2021.

How has the research been done?

Researchers have divided child mortality rate into four categories. Early neonatal i.e. first 7 days of birth, late neonatal i.e. 8-28 days, post neonatal i.e. 29 days to 11 months and infant 12-59 months. They found that earlier there were 33.5 deaths per 1,000 in early neonatal, but this has decreased and it has reached 20.3. The late neonatal death rate has declined from 14.1 to 4.1 per 1,000. The post-natal mortality rate decreased from 31.0 to 10.8 deaths per 1,000.

Researchers say that the burden of mortality has reduced over time. Mortality rates have deteriorated across all stages in some states and union territories from 2016 to 2021, and if this pattern continues, these states and union territories will not be able to meet the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

What are the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

The UN's SDGs include reducing mortality to 25 deaths per 1,000 live births in the first 5 years and 12 deaths per 1,000 live births in the first 28 days by 2030. Researchers from Harvard, University of Toronto and IIT Mandi have set different goals. 21 states could not meet the target of reducing early neonatal mortality rate to 7 for every 1000 births in 2021.