Thousands of pediatricians from across the country have come together to address the issue of the country’s high infant mortality rate (IMR) at Pedicon, the 51st annual conclave of the Indian Academy of Pediatricians, to be held at Indore from January 8 to 12.
Of the 27 million babies are born in India each year, 1 million die within the first four weeks. The Neonatal Mortality Rate (NMR) for India, i.e. the number of babies dying within 29 days, per 1,000 live births, is one of the highest in the world, at a staggering 33. The Neonatal Resuscitation Programme was started in 2009 by the Indian Academy of Pediatricians (IAP), India’s largest association of pediatricians, in an attempt to bring down the high mortality rate amongst infants.
The basic objective is to have one person, trained in neonatal resuscitation (reviving a newborn that is suffocating), at every birth. A large number of births in India occur at home, and often, not in the presence of a trained midwife or health care provider. More than half of newborn deaths occur due to asphyxiation, which can be easily prevented by a trained health worker.
This theme for this year’s Pedicon is ‘Millenium Development Goal 4 – Strategies and Action’. MDG-4 requires countries to ‘reduce their Child Mortality Rate (IMR) by two-thirds, by 2015’. In the case of India, this would mean an IMR of 28 per 1000 live births, from the current rate of over 44.