Infant mortality rate highest in Assam

By our Staff Reporter

GUWAHTI, Nov23: The worst: Infant mortality rate (IMR) is the highest in Assam in the country.

According to materl health bulletin SRS 2011-13 and UN interagency estimates 2013 reports, out of 0.99 million infant deaths in the country Assam accounts for 34,251. It is also to be known that the gap between rural and urban IMR is also the highest in Assam in the country with 25 points.

“The fact that Assam has the highest IMR in the country is due to the presence of tea gardens in the state. The Tea garden community usually prefer to home delivery of child instead of nutritiol delivery. This is the prime reason for increase of IMR. The Assamese community usually go for nutritiol delivery in hospitals, and as such infant mortality rate is negligible among them,” the Assam State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (ASCPCR) chairperson Runumi Gogoi said.

It needs mention that 45 per cent of child deaths indicate malnutrition as an underlying factor and immunization is the most cost effective intervention to address under 5 age group mortality rate.