‘No drop in child marriage cases’

In a grim reminder, a new Unicef report on Tuesday stated that number of children who do not attend school is on the rise, child marriage has not dropped in decades and millions of children will die mostly due to preventable deaths by 2030 if global poverty is not addressed. Around 1.2 million children died of preventable causes in India in 2015 before celebrating their fifth birthday, the State of the World Children Report 2016 revealed.

Stating that most of the deaths were caused by diseases easily preventable and treatable, the report counted India as among the five countries accounting for half the 5.9 million under-five deaths reported across the world last year. The other four countries are the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Nigeria and Pakistan. If the current trends continue, in 2030, five countries will account for more than half of the global burden of under-five deaths, with India reporting the maximum of 17 per cent, followed by Nigeria (15 per cent), Pakistan (8 per cent), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (7 per cent) and Angola (5 per cent). “Based on current trends, then, prospects for universal achievement of the 2030 targets for neonatal and under-five survival are bleak,” it said.

The Unicef in a report said this is a grim reminder of abysmal state of child healthcare in the world’s fastest growing major economy. “Some countries in the fast lane for global economic growth, including India and Nigeria, have been in the slower lane for child mortality reduction,” the report said, adding that economic growth can help, but does not guarantee improved child survival, and a country’s income need not hinder progress.

Importantly, in India, premature and neonatal birth complications acco-unt for 39 per cent of the children’s mortalities, followed by pneumonia with 14.9 per cent, diarrhoea with 9.8 per cent and sepsis with 7.9 per cent.

Meanwhile, India’s under-five mortality rate, which means deaths per 1,000 live births, has improved to 48 from 126 in 1990, said the Unicef, adding that Nepal and Bangladesh have a better rate of 36 and 38, respectively.

On the receiving end were found to be children born in the poorest households. According to the report, 20 per cent such children are almost twice as likely to die during their first five years as those from the richest 20 per cent in Bangladesh and three times as likely in India, Indonesia and the Philippines.

According to experts, unless the trends change, dozens of countries will miss the mark by a wide margin. South Asia will not achieve the neonatal target until 2049 and sub-Saharan Africa will reach it after mid-century. The average annual rate of reduction in neonatal mortality required for India to reach the target is almost double the current level.

“In India, being born into the poorest households carries a learning ‘penalty’ relative to children from the richest households. The penalty widens between ages 7 and 11, reaching a 19 per cent gap in students’ ability to subtract,” the report found. By age 11 in India, girls and boys from the richest homes and have educated parents enjoy a huge academic advantage over other children.