The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Infant mortality rate high in State

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jun 21, 2007
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Infant mortality rate high in State

Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD: Minister for Women’s Development and Child Welfare N. Rajyalakshmi on Tuesday expressed concern over the State having the highest infant mortality rate (IMR) among southern states at 64 per 1,000 live births.

At a consultation on the Andhra Pradesh State Plan of Action for Children, the first draft version of which was thrown open for discussion with voluntary organisations here on Tuesday, she said one-fifth of girls in rural the areas of the State became mothers at 19 adding that if a mother was just 18 years old, the chances of baby’s life being snuffed out in the first year were 60 per cent more.

Given such a scenario, she said it was imperative for the millennium development goals to be achieved as early as possible.

They included eradication of poverty, achieving universal primary education, improving maternal health, combating HIV/AIDS, and developing a global partnership for development.

Ms. Rajyalakshmi, expressed concern at the alarming levels in trafficking and said it was every citizen’s duty to cooperate with law enforcement agencies to curb it. Likewise, HIV/AIDS was another area where public awareness needed to be improved, she said adding that it was only awareness coupled with an attitudinal change that could also end gender discrimination.

Migrant children

Isidore Phillips, Director, Divya Disha, an NGO, regretted that there was no mention of migrant children in urban areas.

Increasing urbanisation was luring migrants from rural areas and it were these children who were being neglected, he said.

Budget lines too were blurred with allocations for different programmes not being specified in it, he added.

Earlier Vasudha Mishra, Secretary, Woman and Child Welfare Department, introduced the salient features of the plan.Michel Saint-Lot, State Representative, UNICEF (AP & Karnataka) spoke on the expectations from the plan.

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