Madhya Pradesh has highest infant mortality rate in India

BHOPAL - Madhya Pradesh has earned a dubious dictinction. It continues to remain on top for the sixth time in a row as far as the infant mortality rate (IMR) in states is concerned.

“Madhya Pradesh has the highest infant mortality rate (IMR) in the country at 70 per 1,000 live births. Though the IMR decreased in 2008 by two points from 72 in 2007 to 70, Madhya Pradesh is the only state with IMR in the range of 70s,” according to the registrar general of India’s latest Sample Registration System (SRS) bulletin pertaining to the health status of children in 2008 issued recently.

The IMR is considered to be one of the most important health indicators, highlighting the status of health of the overall population, mainly females, and the health facilities available to the people that could give them better opportunity for survival, experts say.

“The state stands even worse in the case of the female child - the IMR for females is 72 in the state compared to 68 for the male child,” the SRS bulletin says. It adds that for rural areas, the situation is more shocking with 78 girls out of every 1,000 born in these areas perishing within a year of their birth as compared to just 48 for urban areas.

By comparison, the IMR for India is 53, for rural India it is 58 and for the girl child it is 55 per 1,000 live births per year. The national IMR for rural girl child is 60.

Madhya Pradesh, according to the report, replaced Orissa as the state with the highest infant mortality rate in the country about six years ago and since then, Orissa has managed to consistently keep its IMR below that of Madhya Pradesh. Madhya Pradesh’s efforts did not seem enough to bridge the miniscule gap between the two states. Orissa stands at second place in the country with an IMR of 69.

“These figures show that the state has a long way to go before it reaches anywhere near the national average for IMR,” says Prashant Kumar Dubey of the Right to Food Campaign.

But the state’s Health Secretary S.R. Mohanty says that the road map to curb IMR is in place.

“Apart from various actions by the health and the women and child development department, specific action to curb IMR has been initiated through special care new born units which would soon be set up in all the 50 districts of the state. Once all these units become functional, they would help bring down IMR below 50 in a year or so,” said Mohanty.