The world’s fastest growing major economy recorded the highest number of infant and neonatal deaths in 2017, according to the annual report of the United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UNIGME), released on Sept. 18.
The report relied on World Health Organisation (WHO), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and World Bank figures.
It estimates that 802,000 infants (children below the age of five) died in India in 2017. The figure includes 605,000 neonatal deaths (in the first 28 days of birth), also the highest in the world, recorded in the country in the same year. The number of neonatal deaths in India was 2.5 times that of Nigeria, the next country on the list.
The WHO has pointed to a lack of access to basic services such as water and sanitation, nutrition, and primary healthcare as reasons for the deaths. The report also said that most infant deaths were due to preventable and treatable causes.
“We must prioritise providing universal access to quality health services for every child, particularly around the time of birth and through the early years, to give them the best possible chance to survive and thrive,” said Princess Nono Simelela, assistant director-general at the WHO.
The silver lining, however, is that the number of infant and neonatal deaths has been declining, steadily.
In 1990, the country had recorded over 2 million infant deaths and 1.5 million neonatal deaths. The improvement has come about mainly due to increased public spending on healthcare.