Prelims – Economic and Social Development.
Mains (GS II & III) – GS II (Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources) | GS III (Inclusive growth and issues arising from it).
Why in news?
The United Nations Inter-Agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UNIGME) in its recent report has lauded India for its effort in mitigating childhood mortality and stillbirth.
- The United Nations Inter-Agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UNIGME) recently published its "Levels and Trends in Child Mortality" report.
- It is an annual report that provides data for 195 countries.
- Child mortality – It is also known as under-five mortality rate.
- It is the number of children who die by the age of 5 years, per 1000 live births.
- Stillbirth – A baby who dies after 28 weeks of pregnancy, but before or during birth, is classified as a stillbirth.
Key findings of the report
- While the world has made progress in reducing child mortality, the rate of improvement is slowing down.
- Millions of children still die from preventable causes, often due to unequal access to healthcare, nutrition, and protection, especially in vulnerable areas.
- India – India is on 7th position among the top 10 countries in highest reduction of stillbirths in the range of 60-70%.
- Between 2000 and 2023, India achieved a 70% decline in the under-five mortality rate and 61% decline in the neonatal mortality rate.
- Stillbirth in India is reduced 60.4% in between 2000-2023 in comparison to 37% global reduction.
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United Nations Inter-Agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN IGME)
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- UN IGME was formed in 2004 to share data on child mortality, improve methods for child mortality estimation.
- It also reports on progress towards child survival goals and enhance country capacity to produce timely and properly assessed estimates of child mortality.
- UNIGME is a collaborative effort led by:
- United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF),
- World Health Organization (WHO),
- The World Bank Group and
- The United Nations Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs.
- UN IGME updates its child mortality estimates annually after reviewing newly available data and assessing data quality.
- The web portal contains the latest UN IGME estimates of child mortality at the country, regional and global levels and the data used to derive them.
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References
- Business standard | childhood mortality and stillbirth
- UN IGME | About UN IGME
