Bihar, Gujarat, Rajasthan lag in curbing infant deaths

NEW DELHI: The steady decline in infant deaths in Indian states appears to be faltering in some while progressing well in others, according to fresh data for 2014 released by the Census office based on an annual sample survey.Some of the more backward states like Assam, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh did well in bringing down infant deaths, but Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand showed an alarming slowdown. Infant mortality is a key measure of people’s health and the health delivery system’s efficacy. Most such deaths occur occur in the absence of equipped delivery rooms and doctors or when mother and child are weak.Oddly, for the first time, information for all the states has not been released in the annual Sample Registration System (SRS) Bulletin. Out of the 36 states and union territories, information for only 23 has been put out.Left out are all southern states and some others like Maharashtra and West Bengal. Rohit Bharadwaj, Deputy Registrar General, told TOI that data for all states is yet to come in, ascribing the delay to preoccupation with a baseline survey released recently.This latest SRS Bulletin for 2014 was due in December 2015 but has been released six months late.Parsing the rural-urban and male-female data confirms that there is something going wrong in many states. For instance, Rajasthan and Bihar show an increase in infant mortality in rural areas, while Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh show no change over the previous year.Gujarat, Jharkhand and Rajasthan show a worrying increase in female infant mortality in rural areas.In urban areas, Bihar and Gujarat show increase in infant death rates, while female infant deaths increased in UP. This reflects the growing share of population which cannot afford access to otherwise plentiful healthcare facilities in India’s cities and towns.Among the smaller states, infant mortality has increased in Manipur. In Meghalaya, female infant mortality has increased. Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura show healthy declines in infant death rates.The predominantly urban union territory of Chandigarh has shown an increase in infant deaths, driven by a rise in female infant mortality. Delhi, also largely urban, has shown a decline.An all-India picture will emerge only after the system data for other states is released, which Bharadwaj assured would happen in the coming weeks.