JAMMU DECEMBER 12- The Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir has shown a record improvement in the last 3 years in key Maternal and Child health indicators as per the latest report of the National Family Healthy Survey (NFHS-5)conducted by the International Institute of Population Sciences, Mumbai. The report was released today by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, GoI for 22 states/UTs
If we compare the achievements in key health indicators recorded in the National Family Healthy Survey report (NFHS-5) 2019-20 with the NFHS-4 of 2015-16, J&K has recorded 22 points decrease in Neonatal Mortality Rate (NNMR) from 23.1 to 9.8, 16 points decrease in Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) from 32.4 to 16.3 and 19 points decrease in Under Five Mortality Rate (U5MR) from 37.6 to 18.5, which is unprecedented and is the reflection of the health status of the general population.
The report also indicated a positive change towards the girl child in Jammu & Kashmir and recorded an improvement in Sex Ratio at birth from 923 to 976 females per1000 males.
An average number of children per women which is measured by Total Fertility Rate (TFR) has also shown a significant improvement since the last report which decreased from 2.0 to 1.4.
Antenatal Check-ups of mothers in the first trimester and institutional births, which are important indicators for decreasing the Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR)and utilization of health facilities have also shown significant improvement in the last 2-3 years. The Antenatal Check-ups (ANC) in first trimester of mothers have increased from 76.7% to 86.6% and the Institutional births have increased from 85.5% to 92.4%.
Accordingly, the percentage of fully immunized children (12-23 months) against the vaccine-preventable diseases which has bearing on under-five mortality by preventing the common childhood disease has also increased from 84.4% to 96.7% since last 2-3 years.
The Financial Commissioner Health and Medical Education, Govt of Jammu & Kashmir, and Mission Director NHM while expressing their satisfaction and happiness on the achievements in key health indicators congratulated Govt. Medical Colleges; Directors of Health Services Jammu & Kashmir, Directors Family Welfare, MCH & Immunization, Director of AYUSH, allied departments and all healthcare functionaries working at grass root level across the length and breadth of Union Territory for their efforts in strengthening Maternal & Child Care facilities. They also appreciated the efforts taken by the National Health Mission staff and development partners working in UT for their support in establishing new Neonatal and Maternal healthcare facilities and strengthening the existing ones.
The progress in scaling up the interventions to save the lives of the newborn has substantially accelerated during recent times leading to significant improvement in Child Health Indicators.
One of the comprehensive measures in this regard is an action plan devised by Health & Medical Education Department with support from the Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare & Norway India Partnership Initiative (NIPI) in the form of Road Map for reducing IMR in the J&K UT to a single digit by 2022.
The action plan is being implemented at all levels and focuses on the community based and facility-based interventions for the accelerating rate of decline in Infant Mortality through the strengthening of maternal & child health programmes.
Key health facility-based interventions that have been strengthened include up-gradation of Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs) and Sick Newborn Care Units (SNCUs), Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan (PMSMA), Skilled Birth Attendance (SBA)/Dakshata, Universalization of essential newborn care & resuscitation, Early and exclusive breast feeding, etc.
Special New-born Care Units (SNCU) have been established in 27 District / other equivalent Hospitals, 3 Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs) in GMCs, New Born Stabilization Units (NBSUs) in 65 Community Health Centers and New Born Corners (NBCCs) in 264 delivery points with financial and technical support from National Health Mission.
The community-based interventions that are being strengthened include Home Based Newborn Care, Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP), Intensified Diarrhoea Control Fortnight (IDCF), National Deworming Day (NDD), VHNDs and IMNCI; Also, Home Based Care for Young Child (HBYC) has been rolled out in entire J&K UT. In addition, J&K UT is implementing some new measures through Dakshata, LaQshya, Family Participatory Care (FPC) & Kangaroo mother care (KMC), in Special Newborn Care Units (SNCU), Paediatric Emergency triage and treatment (ETAT) Centers, Obstetric ICU and High Dependency Units in Labour rooms.