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A two-day National Child Survival and Development Conference concluded here today with India formally joining the global Child Survival Partnership. The members of this partnership, among others, are UNICEF, WHO, World Bank, USAID, UNFPA, bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Research and Academic Organizations.
The Conference under India’s initiative promises to galvanize global and national commitment and action for accelerated reduction of child mortality worldwide. The basic strategy to achieve this would be universal coverage of essential, cost effective health interventions with special focus on the poorest sections of society.
The results emerging from this Conference will be communicated to the Planning Commission as inputs for the mid-term appraisal of the Xth Five Year Plan.
The key outcomes of the Conference were:
Convergence at the village level between health and Anganwadi workers to ensure integrated service delivery that is critical to child survival.
Mainstreaming Integrated Management of Neonatal and Childhood Illnesses (IMMCI) Reproductive and Child Health II (RCH II)
Inter-sectoral convergence between health, women and child development and HIV/AIDS prevention.
National Child Health Strategy to include quality improvement measures.
Scale up prevention and treatment of women and children affected by or vulnerable to HIV/AIDS.
Develop a communication plan in order to address:
Breast feeding
Diarrhoea management with ORS
Immunization.
focus systematically on private public partnership within rural and urban settings.
As a member of the global Child Survival Partnership India will scale up known, proven, and cost-effective interventions that save lives of young and newborn children through RCH II.
India therefore subscribes to the long-term vision of the Global partnership to enable all children to realize their right to a life of good health, education and protection.
Evidence shows that nearly one in four under-5 deaths worldwide occur in India, largely due to causes that can be easily prevented. It is estimated that out of over 2 million child deaths in India last year, over half could have been easily averted by using simple, proven, cost effective high impact interventions such as: oral rehydration therapy, antibiotics, breast-feeding, infant and young child feeding, immunization, vitamin A supplementation, and newborn resuscitation. These initiatives are being implemented by the Government of India, but need to be reinforced in a concerted manner. Newer, evidence based interventions, like Zinc supplementation that has the potential to further reduce child mortality may be incorporated.
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