50% of Indian Newborns Suffer From Communicable Diseases

50% of Indian Newborns Suffer From Communicable Diseases: Need for Improving Health Facilities and Awareness

About 50% of the newborns in India suffer from communicable diseases due to lack of awareness according to health experts. Lack of awareness among mothers and lack of good living conditions contribute to the ill health of newborns in India, according to Ms. Anuradha Gupta, the mission director of the National Health Mission. The survival and development of children in our country is a priority. It is important to educate young mothers so that they can protect newborns from different diseases. Timely surgical care for newborns is also needed so that they can get treatment they need.

Experts in the field of healthcare are now deliberating on how to improve maternal and infant health in India. The Reproductive Maternal New Born Child Adolescent Health Network has been organised to deal with healthcare issues and raise awareness about important topics in this field. According to statistics provided by the Ministry, the largest numbers of pregnant women in India are between 11 to 19 years. Pregnancy at such a tender age is detrimental for the mother and infant’s health. This contributes to rise in maternal rates and leads to a high number of infant deaths in the country as well.

While programmes are designed to impact the attitudes towards pregnancy and childcare at grassroots levels, the real aim of the programmes should be to bring about improvement in the health conditions of young mothers through practical measures such as greater number of healthcare units and better medical amenities.

Doctors also need to be encouraged to set up practice in remote and rural areas so that they can treat young mothers and infants in time. Rural healthcare facilities are not adequate enough to meet the needs of the growing Indian population at present. Child survival strategies also need to be discussed so that parents can become aware about how important it is to follow certain medical precautions so that their infants are safe, strong and healthy.

Even in urban areas, mothers often lack access to adequate knowledge regarding childcare and free service needs to be provided so that they can become aware of how to care for their newborn babies. Tamil Nadu is one of the most successful states when it comes to improving healthcare for mothers and newborns. This Indian state has set up a network of specialist medical centres for mother and child care. Free ambulance services are provided from anywhere in the state.

Between January in 2005 to October in 2007, nearly 80 health facilities in Tamil Nadu were equipped with staff, equipment and blood bank facilities to provide emergency medical treatment to mothers and children. These health facilities now account for over 99.5% of the deliveries in this state. Infant and maternal mortality have fallen down significantly in this state as a result of this.

The 80 hospitals amounting to 2 per district were designated as Comprehensive Emergency Obstetric and Noenatal Care Centres. These centres are open at all hours of the day and night. So, any initiative for bringing about improvements in the health of mother and infants should focus on a similar approach.

Private-public partnerships in the field of healthcare can also yield rich dividends for India. The latest technologies as well as free ambulance services are some of the other features that healthcare units across the country should incorporate so that they are able to meet the medical needs of mothers and newborns.

Apart from skilled medical healthcare professionals, healthcare units for mother and children also need to have the latest equipment so that the patients can be treated with care. Bringing quality healthcare facilities closer to vulnerable groups, especially tribal communities is very important. Non-governmental organizations and private sector companies will also make a positive contribution if they think of new initiatives in this field. Many corporate groups are sponsoring change-makers for bringing about better healthcare facilities for mothers and babies across the country.