Kerala has achieved a single digit Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) of 6 per 1,000 live births, comparable to any developed nation, going by the data released by the National Family Health Survey-4 (NFHS-4) (2015-16).
At an IMR of 12, far below the national average of 42, the State has always been ahead of the rest of the country. However, this rate has been stagnant for years and the State had been struggling to manage the last mile reduction of infant deaths to achieve the single digit IMR.
If the NFHS-4 data is to be believed, the State has already overshot the target it had set for itself as far as the sustainable development goals are concerned. Kerala’s SDG target for IMR reduction had been set at eight for the year 2020.
The under-five mortality rate also shows a significant drop from 16 in the last survey to 7 in NFHS-4. The State has performed exceptionally well in various areas, including maternal and child health.
The State’s sex ratio (females per 1,000 males) has shown a drop from 1,124 in NFHS-3 to 1,049 in NFHS-4. However, in contrast, the sex ratio at birth for children born in the last five years shows an increase from 925 to 1,047.
Mothers who had at least four ante-natal visits is 90.2%, yet mothers who had full ante-natal care is shown to be just 61.2%.
According to NFHS-4, the average out-of-pocket expenditure per delivery in public health facility is Rs.6,901. While institutional births is 99.9% in the State, the percentage of delivery in public health facilities is just 38.4% (which shows a slight increase from 35.6% in 2005-06).
Births delivered by C-section is 35.8%. In private health facilities, the C-section rate is 38.6% , while in public hospitals this is 31.4%.
The percentage of fully immunised children (12-23 months) who have received BCG, measles and three doses of DPT and polio vaccines is 82.1%.
NFHS-4 fieldwork for Kerala was conducted between March-October last year by the Society for Promotion of Youth & Masses (SPYM) and gathered information from 11,555 households,11,033 women, and 1,864 men.
