Jharkhand is marching towards goals set under the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) on reducing Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) in the State. The MDG envisages reducing the IMR to 28 per 1,000 live births by 2015.
Jharkhand has the lowest Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) among the major North Indian states in the country. As per the Annual Health Survey (AHS) 2011-12, IMR in the state is 38 per 1000 live births compared to 44 in the country. The State is progressing on Key IMR indicators among Hindi speaking states besides few non-Hindi states which is evident from the IMR of 40 or more in most of the states especially belonging to Hindi belt.
Notably, IMR in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, and Uttrakhand is 70, 65, 59, 57, 57, 52, 50, and 41 respectively. Three districts of Jharkhand – East Singhbhum (with IMR of 25), Dhanbad (with IMR of 26) and Bokaro (with IMR of 28) have achieved MDG goal four years ahead of the deadline of 2015. Another four districts- Koderma, Hazaribagh, Giridih and Ranchi- are likely to attain the goal within the specified time.
Tthere are 10 globally proven interventions to reduce IMR and malnutrition among children. These include three breastfeeding practices- initiation of breastfeeding within one hour of birth, exclusive breastfeeding for first six months of life & complementary feeding from the 7th month along with breastfeeding- and reducing anemia among women & adolescent girls by providing them IFA tablet.
Other interventions to reduce child deaths are increasing births in institutions; treatment of diarrhea, pneumonia and malaria in infants and ensuring routine immunization. Hand-washing with soap at critical times also prevents child deaths. Other social determinants like increasing girl’s education; eliminating child marriage and control on open defecation also contributes towards reducing child deaths and malnutrition.