India
Health
Badaam and mis-information
Badaam looks much older than her 33 years, etched on her face are the telling lines of ill health.
Her youngest daughter, Kiran, is just ten months old but looks small for her age.
“I know that my daughter Kiran looks weak when I compare her to what children in the city look like. Even though I breastfeed her and give her easily digestible food she often gets diarrhea which weakens her completely.
“I’ve only been to Jaipur once in my life, but people look strong and healthy there, especially the foreigners who were visiting the forts. They were so tall!”
Badaams words speak for many poor and marginalized mothers in India whose lack of access to quality health services leads to the death of two million children each year.
Of India’s 1 billion plus people, children account for 44%. 158 million are between 0-6 years.
The Indian budget government allocation to health has now increased from an abysmal .9% of the GDP to 1.39% (2007-08).
Government of India’s initiatives on reproductive and child health, and rural health have the objective of reducing the infant, neonatal and maternal mortality in the country. However, they have been unsuccessful in developing services which integrate mother and child health.
The benefits of these large schemes are yet to reach the poor and the most marginalized children and communities across the country, making it very clear that children born in the poorest households are the least likely to survive.
Vital Statistics
- 10 million children die every year before reaching their fifth birthday, two million of those are in India.
- In India 9.7 million children die every year, most of preventable causes.
- More than half a million women die in pregnancy or childbirth, most of preventable causes.
- Each year 27 million pregnancies take place in the country with only 32.9% women accessing the government health services for antenatal care. Only 16.4% pregnant women have at least three visits for antenatal care
- In India, only 47.6% of children received all vaccinations - in the rural areas it is only 41.7%.
Save the Children’s objective
To develop responses aimed at increasing basic child health and maternal health education and access to services for the poorest and most marginalized children in target states, thus contributing to the reduction of neonatal, infant and maternal morbidity and mortality.