2 million under five Indian children die every year: Report

Despite India's economic prosperity, nearly two million children under the age of five, die every year in the country, the highest number anywhere in the world, a media report said on Sunday.

More than half of them die the month after birth and 400,000 in their first 24 hours, The Observer said based on a report by an international NGO 'Save the Children'. Even in the national capital, Delhi, where an estimated 20 per cent of people live in slums, the infant mortality rate was reported to have doubled in a year, it said.

"The difference between rich and poor is huge. In a city like Delhi it is more stark because we have got state-of-the-art hospitals and women giving birth under flyovers. The health services have failed to deliver," Shireen Miller, Head policy and advocacy of the NGO in India said.

The report also revealed that the poor are disproportionately affected and accused the country of failing to provide adequate healthcare for the impoverished majority of one billion people.

Malnutrition, neonatal diseases, diarrhoea and pneumonia were identified as the major causes of death. "For many poor parents and their children, seeking medical help is a luxury and health services are often too far away," Miller said

The report said nearly nine million children die worldwide every year before the age of five. India has the highest number of deaths, with China on the fifth place.
2 million under five Indian children die every year: Report

As Indian Growth Soars, Child Hunger Persists

Malnutrition in India is worse than in many African nations, stunting the growth of children like this girl in Shivpuri, photographed in November 2008 By SOMINI SENGUPTA
Published: March 12, 2009

NEW DELHI — Small, sick, listless children have long been India’s scourge — “a national shame,” in the words of its prime minister, Manmohan Singh. But even after a decade of galloping economic growth, child malnutrition rates are worse here than in many sub-Saharan African countries, and they stand out as a paradox in a proud democracy.

India’s sluggish and sometimes corrupt bureaucracy has only haltingly put in place relatively simple solutions — iodizing salt, for instance, or making sure all children are immunized against preventable diseases — to say nothing of its progress on the harder tasks, like changing what and how parents feed their children.
As Indian Growth Soars, Child Hunger Persists

Comment: NGO's too are not spared by corrupt bureaucrats- they take a bite of major funds and resources and ensure that money and funds do not reach the needy. Even UN organisations and World Bank resources are subtly looted by Bureaucrats...they seek employment of their wards and relatives in these world bodies to thwart any benefit to the poorest of the poor!