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  India   Focus on districts with high fertility rate

Focus on districts with high fertility rate

AGE CORRESPONDENT
Published : Jul 12, 2016, 2:33 am IST
Updated : Jul 12, 2016, 2:33 am IST

With an aim to achieve the goal of population stabilisation, the government Monday said that a special focus with micro-planning will be conducted on more than 100 districts that are reporting high to

With an aim to achieve the goal of population stabilisation, the government Monday said that a special focus with micro-planning will be conducted on more than 100 districts that are reporting high total fertility rate (TFR).

“The TFR in 23 districts of the country is above four per cent — 11 from UP, eight from Bihar and two each from Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. We have to put a special focus on these districts. There are 123 districts ranging in seven states where TFR is between 3-3.9 per cent. So these 123 plus 23 districts need to be strategised and focused on. I would suggest we should go for micro-planning of every district and find out the reasons. If we find out the reasons, we will be able to address it,” Union health minister J.P. Nadda said at a national workshop.

TFR is the average number of children expected to be born per woman during her entire span of reproductive period and India has a TFR target of 2.1 per cent.

Mr Nadda said that the reasons may vary in each district and these could be due to poor infrastructure, social or cultural reasons and education. “Every district has its own peculiarity. So micro-planning is needed. In the next 2-3 months, if we are able to strategise this and we start addressing that way, next year when we meet on population day, we will have an answer,” he said.

Noting that there has been a reduction in the participation of males in family planning, he said that the reasons for this should be analysed.

Terming as a challenge the target of bringing down TFR to 2.1 per cent, the minister said that as far as infant mortality rate, maternal mortality rate and under 5 mortality are concerned, the pace of decline in India is faster than the world average.

Minister of state for health Anupriya Patel said there is thought process in the country that a family should have a male child and this was a “grassroots issue plaguing it”.

She stressed the need to bring about a change in this mindset.

Location: India, Delhi, New Delhi