‘6 lakh babies die within 28 days of birth in India’

Six lakh newborns die in India within 28 days of their birth every year, says a new Unicef study. The study found that number of newborn deaths in India was one of the highest in the world and most of these deaths being preventable and medically treatable; 80 per cent of these happen for no serious reason.
On a brighter side, the study says, India has remarkably reduced mortality rate of children less than five years of age.
“Though infant mortality in the country has declined considerably, the number of newborns dying each year remains unacceptably high. India, with nearly 600,000 newborn deaths each year, accounts for a quarter of the global burden of neonatal deaths,” said Unicef in its global report on neonatal mortality “Every Child Alive” released on Tuesday.
Of the 184 countries, India’s 31 rank with 25.4 neonatal mortality rate (per 1,000 live births) kept the world’s seventh largest economy below 153 countries who have better survival rates for their newborns.
A year earlier, India was the 28th worst country among 184 nations in terms of neonatal mortality.
First 28 days of life are the most vulnerable time for a child’s survival. Children face the highest risk of dying in their first month of life, at a global rate of 19 deaths per 1,000 live births.
Globally, 2.6 million children died in the first month of life in 2016 most of which occurred in the first week, with about one million dying on the first day and close to one million dying within the next six days, as per Unicef.
“Among those children, more than 80 per cent died from treatable causes such as premature birth, complications during delivery, and infections like sepsis and pneumonia,” it said.
Affordable and quality healthcare should be there for every mother and newborn. It includes clean water and electricity at health facilities, presence of a skilled health attendant during birth, disinfecting umbilical cord, breastfeeding within first hour after birth and skin-to-skin contact between the mother and child, it said.  “India is currently off-track to meet the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target for neonatal mortality of 12 by 2030,” said the UN report. However, the country has made impressive progress in reduction of under-five mortality and with the current rate of decline “is on track to meet the SDG target for the under-five mortality of 25 per 1000 live births by 2030.”
India registered a reduction of 66 per cent in under-five deaths during 1990 to 2015, nearly meeting its Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target. . In comparison, the decline in under-five mortality for the world was 55 per cent.