Introduction:
According to UN inter-agency estimates, globally, the NMR has reduced from 37 deaths per 1,000 live births in 1990 to 18 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2017. Still, 2.5 million children died in the first month of life in 2017. The under-five mortality rate has decreased by 58% from an estimated rate of 93 deaths per 1000 live births in 1990 to 39 deaths per 1000 live births in 2017. This is equivalent to 1 in 11 children dying before reaching the age of 5 in 1990, compared to 1 in 26 in 2017. The global maternal mortality ratio has also declined by 44% from 385 deaths in 1990 to 216 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2015 (GLOBAL HEALTH OBSERVATORY (GHO) DATA, 2017)
Some of the important indicators to mark child's health are IMR, U5MR and NMR. According to United Nations data, in 2017, about 5.4 million children die before completing the age of 5 (UN, IGME, 2017). According to the Sample Registration System (SRS) data for 2016, Infant Mortality Rate for India stands at 34 per 1000 live births, Neonatal Mortality Rate at 28 per 1000 live births and Under 5 Mortality Rate at 43 per 1000 live births (Niti Ayog, state statistics, 2017).
India, although has shown a remarkable journey in term of maternal and child health care, be it increase in institutional deliveries, deliveries by skilled birth attendants, introduction of new vaccines to Immunization programs etc. WHO commended India for its groundbreaking progress in recent years in reducing the maternal mortality ratio (MMR) by 77%, from 556 per 100 000 live births in 1990 to 130 per 100 000 live births in 2016. India’s present MMR is below the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target and puts the country on track to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target of an MMR below 70 by 2030 ( Singh P.K. , WHO Regional Director for South-East Asia). However, still there is a lot to be done with emerging challenges of present health care system because India shares 15 % of the global burden of maternal mortality that accounts for 45000 maternal deaths in 2015 as per World Health Organization (WHO, 2015).
