Initial indications of an infant death audit in the districts point to a single-digit Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) in the State, a major public health care achievement. IMR is the number of deaths per 1,000 live births.
“The ongoing infant death audit in the districts indicates that we do have a single-digit IMR, predictably between 7 and 8,” Health Minister K.K. Shylaja said .
It is expected to provide the actual cause of each infant death, she said. Launched in September 2017 as an initiative of the government and the Indian Academy of Paediatrics (IAP), Kerala, the audit has been completed in three districts. The audit puts the IMR of Kozhikode at 5.47, Ernakulam 3.62, and Alappuzha 5.76. It will take a couple of months for all districts to compile the audited data, says Balachandar D., secretary, Indian Academy of Paediatrics.
Public health experts had doubted the IMR of 6 generated from the National Family Health Survey and the Civil Registration System data, while the Sample Registration System data put the mortality rate at 12. The State could earlier claim that the IMR had come down to 10 for the last couple of years even as there was a stagnation at 12 for over a decade. The debate on the actual IMR initiated the infant death audit to assess the mortality rate.
The goal of bringing down the IMR from 12 to 8 became a reality as the Navajatha Shishu Suraksha Karyakram equipped doctors and nurses in infant care to meet emergencies.
Main reasons
Neonatal deaths, of which congenital diseases are a major hurdle, make 75% of the IMR (neonatal period is 0-28 days). Other reasons for infant deaths are sepsis, birth asphyxia, premature births, and low birth weight in that order, akin to the West. When the number of deaths is low, a couple of deaths are enough to affect the numericals, says S. Sachidananda Kamath, former national president, IAP.
