The Haryana Government on Monday claimed that the infant mortality rate (IMR) and child mortality rate (CMR) have declined in the State.
“Following the multi-prolonged strategy adopted by the Haryana Government, the IMR has declined to 36 per thousand live births from 41 per thousand live births and CMR has declined by five points from 45 to 40 per thousand live births as per July 2016 statistics, said Health Minister Anil Vij.
The Health Minister while launching the flagship ‘Mothers’ Absolute Affection’ (MAA) programme for promotion of breastfeeding at a state level function held at Panchkula, said that the multi-prolonged strategy adopted by the government has yielded positive results.
He said that now, each district will organise district launch to educate the masses towards improving the infant and child feeding indicators which are crucial for prevention of malnutrition.
He said that the state is focusing on improvement of quality and access of newborn care, child health and immunisation services to reduce IMR and CMR, as per the target of Millennium Development Goals. These are also some of the key areas of priority of United Nations strategic development goals. Under this, various interventions have been carried out by the National Health Mission and State Health Department, the Minister said.
As per the latest available Sample Registration System (SRS) bulletin of RGI published in July 2016, while IMR of the country is 39 per thousand live births, IMR of the state is 36 per thousand live births. Similarly, the CMR in the state is also lower than that of the country, which stands at 45 per thousand live births, said Vij.
He further said that Haryana had also been awarded as the best state for reduction in infant mortality at the 3rd National Summit on ‘Good and replicable practices and innovations in public health facilities’ at Tirupati.
Highlighting the life cycle approach, he said that “Continuum of care” approach had been adopted under national health mission with the articulation of ‘strategic approach to reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health (RMNCH+A)’, bringing focus on all the life stages.
As per the health experts, breastfeeding is a child’s first inoculation against death, disease and poverty. According to the latest scientific evidence, breastfeeding is the most enduring investment in physical, cognitive and social capacity development.
Apart from doctors and health workers, the community link workers like ASHA and Anganwadis play a crucial role in promoting, protecting and supporting the concept of correct infant and young child feeding practices, Vij added.
MAA programme is a year-long campaign in which capacity building of community health workers, including ASHAs, AWWs and ANMs, on breastfeeding, lactation support and management at facilities would be carried out.