India achieves significant landmarks in reduction of Child Mortality (GS Paper 1, Social Issues)
Why in news?
- Recently, the Sample Registration System (SRS) Statistical Report 2020 was released by Registrar General of India (RGI).
- In a significant milestone, India has achieved landmark achievement in further reduction of child mortality rates.
As per the report, India has been witnessing a progressive reduction in IMR, U5MR and NMR since 2014
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INDICATOR
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SRS 2014
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SRS 2019
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SRS 2020
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Crude Birth Rate (CBR)
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21.0
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19.7
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19.5
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Total Fertility Rate
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2.3
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2.1
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2.0
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Early Neonatal Mortality Rate (ENMR) – 0- 7 days
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20
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16
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15
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Neonatal Mortality Rate (NMR)
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26
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22
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20
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Infant Mortality Rate (IMR)
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39
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30
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28
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Under 5 Mortality Rate (U5MR)
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45
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35
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32
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towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) targets by 2030.
Following a steady downward trend, IMR, U5MR and NMR have further declined:
Under 5 Mortality Rate (U5MR):
- Under 5 Mortality Rate (U5MR) for the country has shown significant decline of 3 points (Annual Decline Rate: 8.6%) from 2019 (32 per 1000 live births in 2020 against 35 per 1000 live births in 2019). It varies from 36 in rural areas to 21 in urban areas.
- U5MR for Female is higher (33) than male (31). There has been a decline of 4 points in male U5MR and 3 points in female U5MR during the corresponding period.
- Highest decline of U5MR is observed in the State of Uttar Pradesh (5 points) and Karnataka (5 points).
Infant Mortality Rate (IMR):
- Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) has also registered 2-point decline to 28 per 1000 live births in 2020 from 30 per 1000 live births in 2019 (Annual Decline Rate: 6.7%).
- The Rural-Urban difference has narrowed to 12 points (Urban 19, Rural-31).
- No gender differential has observed in 2020 (Male -28, Female - 28).
Neonatal Mortality Rate:
Neonatal Mortality Rate has also declined by 2 points from 22 per 1000 live births in 2019 to 20 per 1000 live births in 2020 (Annual Decline Rate: 9.1%).
It ranges from 12 in urban areas to 23 in rural areas.
As per SRS 2020 Report,
- Six (6) States/ UT have already attained SDG target of NMR (<=12 by 2030): Kerala (4), Delhi (9), Tamil Nadu (9), Maharashtra (11), Jammu & Kashmir (12) and Punjab (12).
- Eleven (11) States/UT have already attained SDGs target of U5MR (<=25 by 2030): Kerala (8), Tamil Nadu (13), Delhi (14), Maharashtra (18), J&K (17), Karnataka (21), Punjab (22), West Bengal (22), Telangana (23), Gujarat (24), and Himachal Pradesh (24).
PoshanVatikas or Nutri- gardens
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
Why in news?
- Under ongoing PoshanMaah 2022, activities for setting-up nutri-gardens or retro-fittingPoshanVatikas with backyard pultry / fishery units is being carried out in a big way across the country.
Achievements:
- So far, more than 1.5 lakh events on retrofitting PoshanVatikas with backyard poultry and fishery units have been reported. Also, more than 75 thousand sensitization camps have been conducted to promote millets and backyard kitchen gardens.
- Under various interventions taken up by the Ministry of Women and Child Development jointly with Ministry of Ayush, close to 4.37 lakh Anganwadi Centres have set up PoshanVatikas.
- Additionally, so far, 1.10 lakh medicinal saplings have also been planted across some of the selected districts of 6 States.
About POSHAN Abhiyaan:
- Launched on 8th March, 2018, by the Prime Minister, POSHAN Abhiyaan aims to improve nutritional outcomes for children, adolescents, pregnant women & lactating mothers.
- The Abhiyaan is a key component of Mission Poshan2.0 which seeks to address the challenges of malnutrition in children, adolescent girls, pregnant women and lactating mothers through a strategic shift in nutrition content and delivery and by creation of a convergent eco-system to develop and promote practices that nurture health, wellness and immunity.
PoshanVatikas:
- A key plank of the goal to enable the right kind of nourishment are the PoshanVatikas or Nutri-gardens that are being set up across the country to provide easy and affordable access to fruits, vegetables, medicinal plants and herbs.
- The idea is simple; to provide a fresh and regular supply of locally produced fruits, vegetables and medicinal plants to women and children straight from a nutri-garden at or near an Anganwadi Centre.
- PoshanVatikas can play an important role in enhancing dietary diversity by providing key micronutrients through local fruits and vegetables.
Way Forward:
- PoshanVatikas are a good example of convergent action on-ground. Beyond the reward of locally available wholesome produce, it will reduce external dependency and make communities atmanirbhar for their nutritional security.
Malawi first country in southern Africa to eliminate trachoma: WHO
(GS Paper 2, Health)
Why in news?
- Malawi has become the first country in southern Africa to eliminate trachoma, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced recently.
- This makes Malawi the fourth country in WHO's Africa region to achieve this milestone after Ghana (June 2018), Gambia (April 2021) and Togo (May 2022).
What is trachoma?
- Trachoma is the world’s leading infectious cause of blindness and is one of the conditions known as neglected tropical diseases.
- It is a public health problem in 44 countries and is responsible for the blindness or visual impairment of about 1.9 million people.
- Around 136 million people live in trachoma endemic areas and are at risk of trachoma blindness.
Path to elimination:
- Trachoma starts off as a bacterial infection and can be easily treated. Overtime, it causes the eyelashes to be pushed inwards into the eye. So with every blink, they brush against the eyeball.
- This advanced form of trachoma is calledtrichiasis. Over time, if it’s not treated, trichiasis can lead to blindness.
- The disease thrives where there are water shortages, poor sanitation and infestations of flies, which are considered physical vectors of the disease.
Global Trachoma Mapping Project:
- The Malawi Ministry of Health used the opportunity provided by the Global Trachoma Mapping Project to map 25 districts suspected of being trachoma-endemic.
- The mapping survey aimed to:
- Determine the prevalence of active trachoma (TF) in 1-9-year-old children, and the prevalence of trachomatous trichiasis (TT) in adults aged 15 years and above.
- Guide the implementation of a trachoma program in any evaluation unit found to have prevalences of TF or TT higher than the elimination threshold set by WHO.
- Mapping was carried out between 2013 and 2015, using the standard GTMP protocols and the total population in suspected trachoma endemic districts was nine million
Task Force:
- A task force was formed involving all the key trachoma elimination stakeholders in Malawi.
- In 2014, the taskforce drew up a five-year trachoma action plan to implement the SAFE strategy to eliminate trachoma in the six endemic districts.
- The WHO-recommended SAFE strategy aims to stop the spread of blinding trachoma through surgery, antibiotics, facial cleanliness and environmental improvements.
Trachoma free nations:
- As of March 7, 2022, 14 countries had reported achieving trachoma elimination goals.
- These countries are Cambodia, China, Gambia, Ghana, Iran, Iraq, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Mexico, Morocco, Myanmar, Nepal, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Togo.
