Punjab’s six districts have been identified as High Priority Districts (HPDs) for improving the infant and maternal mortality rate in the State.
These high priority districts, identified on the basis of a survey carried out by the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), are Sangrur, Barnala, Mansa, Sri Muktsar Sahib, Gurdaspur and Pathankot.
In these districts, “the NRHM would run special programme for vaccination, nutritional needs and provide more health facilities to mothers and children to improve their health”, said NRHM additional secretary-cum-mission director Anuradha Gupta on Monday.
She said, “Apart from that, incentives would be given to specialists, nurses and other staff members in these high priority districts so that there would be no shortage of workers.”
Gupta was in the city to chair a high-level meeting on ‘State Consultation for Intensification and Harmonisation of efforts in High Priority Districts for improved Maternal and Child Health outcomes’, organised by Punjab NRHM in collaboration with United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and other development partners.
Appreciating Punjab’s efforts in improving the IMR and MMR, Gupta said: “Even as Punjab has demonstrated steady progress in curbing under-five mortalities like both, IMR and Neonatal Mortality Rate, which are lower than the national average, there is still a huge scope to improve this further to a new level.”
Punjab’s Infant Mortality Rate has been recorded at 30 deaths per 1,000 live births, while the Neonatal Mortality Rate is 25 per 1,000 live births. Punjab’s IMR and NMR are lower than country’s national average of IMR at 44 per 1,000 live births, and NMR 31 per 1,000 live births.
“To provide the entire spectrum of care using life cycle approach and that is why the Centre has given emphasis on the Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health (RMNCH+A) Strategic approaches,” said Gupta.
“We have included adolescents in this project as these all are interlinked. If we don’t focus on the adolescents, we cannot improve the maternal health,” said Gupta.
She informed that the districts have been identified on the basis of six indicators — contraceptive prevalence rate (CPR), full immunisation coverage, safe delivery percentage, Infant Mortality Rate, Total Fertility Rate, and exclusive breastfeeding.
“These high priority districts need special focus and support. These can be done by giving at least 30 per cent higher allocation of funds than other districts. Second is the technical assistance to be provided by international developing partners, which is USAID in Punjab,” said Gupta.