Health Insurance Blog

More than 10 million children aged less than five die every year in developing countries in the continent of Asia. The number is astounding, alarming and more specifically its true. For more than three decades now developed nations have held summits to understand the severity of the matter and consequently attempted to come up with achievable solutions. But according to records, all efforts have been in vain since only three nations seem to have experienced tangible improvement in terms of child health care and welfare. Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam are the only three nations that have been successful in bringing down the infant mortality rate to less than 70 deaths in about 1000 children. For other countries the figures are not as impressive but they definitely do much to deliver hope- Bangladesh and Nepal have seen reduction in infant mortality rate in a sustained way but the case is definitely not so with India. This country is still way behind in ensuring a lower infant mortality rate and if the current progress is sustained, the country will have no hopes of securing a better life for its children in the near future.

If factors behind this general failure is assessed three major factors will come to light- health care during childbirth, nutrition and child immunization. As far as health care during childbirth goes, the state of developing nations is pathetic not so much for the lack of medical facilities as for poverty. Despite maternal programs being launched widely, the number of women delivering their babies without professional help is still large in developing countries in Asia. In fact, the only two nations that can boast of the maximum number of professional deliveries are Phillipines and Vietnam. In this respect, Nepal and Bangladesh seem to be at the the end of the line.

Every four out of ten children in most Asian countries are undernourished. In this case even nations that are ahead in other criteria fall short.

Child immunization, as a standard, should be ensured against six deadly diseases namely tetanus, tuberculosis, diphtheria, measles, poliomyelitis and pertussis. Not a single Asian country has achieved all six targets. Unfortunately, the existence of these diseases on a large scale means infant mortality rate will not lessen and will probably see a rise.

The statistics prove to be a dampener for consequent  generations.  But are the authorities listening?