Madhya Pradesh government launches scheme to reduce infant mortality rate

Bhopal: In a bid to remove the blot of highest infant mortality rate(IMR) from Madhya Pradesh, the state government has taken an initiative to train the medical and health teams of the delivery points with the help of the Indian Academy of Paediatrics(IAP), while in the tribal district, Badwani, innovative efforts are also being made to promote institutional deliveries.

A memorandum of understanding has been recently signed between the state health and medical department and the IAP to educate the doctors, nurses, auxiliary nurse midwives (ANMs) and other paramedical staff assigned at the deliveries point.

The scheme, to skill the delivery room staff has been launched in six districts, Sheopur, Chhatarpur, Panna, Damoh, Shahdol and Umaria as a pilot project. Under the project, staff of the 180 delivery points in six districts of the state will be trained in neonatal resuscitation for a year.

According to the latest Sample Registration System (SRS) statistical report released by the Registrar General of India, Madhay Pradesh has the highest infant mortality rate (IMR) of 48. This means 48 children out of 1,000 live births died in the state within one year.

"The golden minute (the first minute after birth) is very important for a newborn baby. If the child is cared for under the prescribed protocols of the Neonatal Resuscitation Program during this period, it can not only save the lives of children but also protect them from other serious diseases," Dr Sanjay Goel, Secretary and Commissioner, Health of the state government told Millannium Post.

"If the project gets success then it will be implemented across the state. The country's famous paediatricians are honorarily providing skill-based training to our delivery centres' health team," Dr Goel added.

The IAP is an organisation of paediatricians. At present, there are over 32,000 as its members, it works for the improvement of health and well-being of the children.

The collector of Barwani has also taken an initiative to promote institutional delivery to reduce infant deaths and maternal mortality ratio (MMR) in the district.

"We are making a holistic efforts, from prenatal, intranatal to postnatal stages to reduce the IMR as well as the MMR in the district. Focusing the institutional delivery, we are paying the double fare of the private vehicle which transport pregnant women to the delivery centres from the remote areas where Janani Suraksha Vahan can not reach," the collector of Barwani, Shivraj Singh told Millennium Post.

The district has a 68 per cent tribal population, most of the tribes reside in remote areas so bringing pregnant women to the delivery centre is a tough task for existing government facilities.

Most of the tribal pregnant women in the district are anaemic, due to this they give birth to a malnourished child so the risk increases to save the lives of the child as well as the mother.

The district administration has focused the antenatal, intranatal and postnatal care of pregnant and lactating women, engagement of the Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) to provide health care facilities, strengthening facility based newborn care units, NRCs, Home Based Newborn Care and providing timely various kind of vaccines.