Indian Health Facts: Report by UNICEF

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Approximately 2 million under-5 children die in India every year (UNICEF state of the World s Children Report, 2007). This is about one-fourth of the global burden of infant and child deaths. Adding to this gloomy statistic is the status of maternal mortality in India. Over 70,000 women die in India every year due to pregnancy related issues. This too accounts for almost one-fourth of the world s maternal deaths. India has among the poorest maternal mortality indicators in the world, and child survival has not improved as it should have. Better early care and immunization, along with tackling diarrhoea and pneumonia among children ensure improvements in child survival, and also contributes to reducing the family size and population stabilization in India India faces the enormous challenge in achieving the Millenium Development Goals by reducing infant mortality from 53 per 1000 live births to less than 30 and maternal mortality from 254 per 100,000 live births to less than 100 by 2015. On the face of it, this challenge seems almost unsurpassable in the given timeframe. With just five years to the 2015 deadline for achieving the MDGs the country as a whole will not be on track for a majority of the targets related to poverty, hunger, health, gender equality and environmental sustainability unless concerted national efforts are made by government and all sections of civil-society working in tandem.