Mother and child health : Assam is lagging far behind the desired goals

The National Family Health Survey-4, 2015-16 has revealed very deplorable state of Assam’s Universal Immunisation Programme and poor indices of Infant Mortality Rate and Under Five Mortality Rate.  The data show that the state is lagging far behind the desired goals in respect of mother and child health.

DISTRICT-WISE STATISTICS OF TOTAL IMMUNIZATION COVERAGE NFHS-4

Only 47 per cent children in Assam has been covered under Universal Immunisation Programme(UIP) , according to National Family Health Survey-4,  2015-16. In Dhubri district the UIP coverage is only 20 per cent, and in Karbi Anglong district it is only 24 per cent.  At least five districts of Assam the coverage of UIP is below 40 per cent. Only two districts Kamrup Metro and Dibrugarh has UIP coverage of over 70 per cent.

STATEWISE STATISTICS OF INFANT MORTAITY RATE

According to NFHS-4,  in case of Infant Mortality Rate, which is 49 per thousand, Assam stands second from the list of worst performing states in India, after Madhya Pradesh where the IMR is 52. Goa (10) tops the best performing IMR states in the country, followed by Manipur (11), Kerela (12) Nagaland (14)and Sikkim (19). All other north-eastern states including Arunachal Pradesh(30), Mizoram (32) and Meghalaya(46) are better performers in case of IMR.

STATEWISE STATISTICE OF UNDER FIVE MORTALITY RATE

In case of under five mortality rate, another crucial  indicator of health status,  Assam tops the   list of worst performing states in the country with 66 deaths per thousand.

UNEVEN INTERSTATE PROGRESS OF UNDER 5 MORTALITTY RATE

Under Universal Immunisation Programme, Government of India is providing vaccination free of cost against 10 vaccine preventable diseases i.e. Diphtheria, Pertussis, Tetanus, Polio, Measles, severe form of Childhood Tuberculosis,  Hepatitis B, Meningitis and Pneumonia caused by Hemophilus Influenza type B., Japanese Encephalitis in JE endemic districts and Rotavirus diarrhoea in selected states.

In case of MMR too, data show Assam as one of the worst performing states in India.

UNEVEN INTERSTATE PROGRESS OF

( This Data story has been culled from a powerpoint presentation on "Health- A Brainstorming with Media ..Hidden Statistics :- Health, Poverty and the Media”, made by Dr Subhajit Bhattacharjee, SRTL North East, WHO India, at an informal media interaction on the Right to Information (RTI) Act organised by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) in colloboration with the Centre for Northeast Studies and Policy Research (C-NES)  in Guwahati on December 5, 2016 )

-  nezine.com Editorial Bureau