J&K has registered improvement in maternal, child health: Officials
Jammu: Jammu and Kashmir has achieved “remarkable improvement” in multiple indicators related to maternal and child health in recent years, officials said on Sunday.
In a single year, the Under Five Mortality Rate (U5MR) in the Union Territory has decreased from 21 to 17 points per 1,000 live births, they said quoting the Sample Registration System (SRS) Statistical Report 2020 released on September 22 by the Registrar General of India (RGI).
The officials said the neo-natal mortality rate dropped from 15 to 12, early neo-natal mortality rate from 10 to 8 while sex ratio at birth increased from 918 to 921.
Jammu and Kashmir has already achieved the global target of reducing under-five mortality rate to less than 25 per 1,000 live births, they said.
The officials said the UT showed an “incremental performance” in Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of good health and wellbeing of people.
The Health and Medical Education Department with active support from National Health Mission (NHM) has put strenuous efforts to provide essential newborn care at public health institutions across J&K through facility-Based and home-based newborn care interventions, they said.
They said the progress in scaling up the interventions to save the lives of the newborn has substantially accelerated during recent times leading to a significant improvement in various health Indicators.
One of the comprehensive measures in this regard includes an action plan devised by the Health and Medical Education Department with support from the Union Health Ministry in the form of road map for reducing the Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) in J&K to single digit, the officials said.
Moreover, adequate infrastructure is being built under the Emergency COVID Response Package which in the long run will help to further improve various health indicators across the Union Territory, they said.
Secretary, Health and Medical Education Department, Bhupinder Kumar appreciated the efforts of field functionaries for their continued efforts to improve maternal and newborn care, which has resulted in landmark achievement in further reduction of child mortality rates.
