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VOL. 27, NO. 22, February 08, 2007 (Magh 25 2064 B.S.)
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CHILD MORTALITY
Handsome Progress
Nepal makes remarkable progress in checking child mortality
By A CORRESPONDENT
The State of the World Children Report 2008 by the UNICEF has stated that Nepal has attained a big achievement by reducing under five mortality rate by more than 67 percent over the decade and is likely to achieve an important Millennium Development Goal by 2015.
The Report, which was released in Geneva last week, states that the under five mortality rate has gone down from 142 per 1000 children in the year 1990 to 59 by 2006.
It makes Nepal one of the three countries in the world to achieve the feat. It also notes that infant mortality rate has decreased 46 per 1000 child in the year 2006 from 99 in 2000.
The report however, shows that the country still stands at 63rd position in the world so far as under-five mortality rate is concerned and urges the stakeholders to focus on reducing neo-natal mortality rate—the greatest challenge for Nepal.
Nepal 's neo-natal mortality rate stands at 40 out of 1000 (as per the data of 2000), the report shows. It also warns that many countries South Asia region are not likely to meet MDG4 goals, and calls for integrated health strategies to catch up with the rest of the world. MDG4 or the Millennium Development Goal 4 aims to reduce the global under-five mortality rate by two thirds between 1990 and 2015.
The report adds that "attaining the goal is still possible, but the challenge is formidable". It especially emphasizes the need to involve local communities as they generate necessary demand for quality health cadre, and their engagement is vital if marginalized remote populations are to be reached.
The report also describes the impact of simple, affordable life-saving measures, such as exclusive breastfeeding (up to the age of two), immunizations, insecticides-treated bed nets and Vitamin A supplementation.
Meanwhile, the government officials have said that they will now launch a 'community-based new born health package' in at least five districts within this fiscal year and expand it in the upcoming years to other districts to reduce neo-natal (children aged less than one month) mortality.
