Under-5 mortality rate falls by 4 points

Significant fall in 15 states; only Kerala registers an increase by 1 point.

In what amounts to good news for India, the Under-5 Mortality Rate (U-5MR) has fallen by an average of four points during 2014, and if the pace continues, India will be able to meet a Millennium Development Goal (MDG).

With Uttar Pradesh and Assam being among the best performing states, registering a seven-point decline each, Union health minister J.P. Nadda said that the country was on track to bring down the U-5MR further. “In 15 states, the fall has been significant and if we continue at the same pace, we will be able to bring it down further to 42, and hence achieve our MDG goal,” Mr Nadda said.

The RGI Sample Registration Survey (SRS) on U-5MR for 2014 found 15 states registering a decline of four points, and 16, including that of three states, like Bihar and Andhra Pradesh, registering a decrease by one point. The SRS also found that Kerala was the only state to register an increase in U-5MR, by one point.

“We have been able to save 1.25 lakh lives in 2014. Intensive interventions, like a special neo natal care unit, immunisation drive (mission Indradhanush), timely breast feeding and an increase in institutional deliveries have all helped get us here,” the minister said, adding that there was an 8.16 per cent decline in under-5 mortality during 2013-2014 as compared to 5.76 per cent decline during 2012-2013. In 2012-13, U-5MR had reduced from 52 to 49 (per 1,000 live births) and to 45 the subsequent year, which is a decline of four points, he said.

Achieving U-5MR of 42 (per 1000 live births) is the MDG goal. According to the data, 15 states have achieved a decline of more than four points, with Uttar Pradesh and Assam registering the highest decline of seven points each, followed by Rajasthan and Odisha, which registered a decline of six points each. The other states include Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir.