Update on India
By James Campbell, Chief Executive
“One kid dies in India every 15 seconds”
This shocking statistic was reported in the Times of India on Wednesday 23 January 2008, and means that 4 children die every minute – 240 every hour, and given that I had been in India 24 hours before I read this article, I realised that 5,760 wee ones had passed away since I arrived!
So what is the cause? Mostly malnutrition. This continues to affect newborns and young children and has been found to be the underlying cause of up to 50% of the under-five deaths. About 55 million, or one-third of the world’s underweight children under the age of five, live in India.
In India, over 2.1million children die annually before reaching their fifth birthday, 50% of them not surviving even 28 days. Globally, the number stands at 9.7 million annually.
Of the 19 million infants in the developing world who have low birth weight (less than 2,500 grams), 8.3 million are in India. This means that approximately 43% of all the world’s infants who were born with a low birth weight are born in India.
These are the findings of Unicef’s latest ‘The State of the World’s Children-2008’ report released on Tuesday. The report places India on number one spot in children’s deaths across the globe – one child dying every three seconds!
The report also states that India accounts for over 20% of under-five children’s deaths. What is more shocking is that 25% of children dying worldwide before the 20th day after birth are from India. India’s future lies with these children. Focusing on the survival and development of its children is the best investment that any country can make.
According to the report, simple and affordable life-saving measures, such as immediate and exclusive breast feeding, immunization, insecticide-treated bed nets, integrated management of neonatal and child illnesses and vitamin A supplementation, can greatly reduce child deaths.
We have much to do……
James Campbell visited India from 21st to 31st of January 2008. He spent two days in Mumbai and Gujarat, then travelled to Hyberabad where he helped distribute shoeboxes to children in a rural slum.. He reported later
