UP has the worst under-five mortality rate

Ahead of the legislature party meeting and swearing-in of a new Chief Minister, National Family Health Survey (NFHS) released data that shows UP to have the worst under-five mortality rate (MR) of 78 deaths per thousand lives. 

While the infant mortality rate (IMR) for UP has improved from 73 to 64 deaths per 1,000 births in a span of 10 years (2006-2016), it still has the worst IMR in the country. The state’s under-five IMR has gone past Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. Hindustan Times reported that a decade ago, Chhattisgarh had an IMR of 71 which improved to 54 in 2016 and Madhya Pradesh’s IMR reduced from 93 to 65 in the same period. 

Overall IMR and under-five MR for the country has seen a marked improvement over the years. In 2006, the IMR and under-five IMR were 57 and 74. This came down to 41 and 50 respectively by 2016. The following graph shows that the rates have been steadily declining over each NFHS report.

According to a report on IndiaSpend in February, many districts in the country’s most populous state had a better sex ratio at birth, better IMR and even better maternal mortality rate than the rest of the country. Unfortunately, many districts are still struggling with providing polio vaccinations to their newborns. Though the country became polio-free in January 2011, the threat looms large in districts like Shrawasti, Balrampur and Sonbhadra where more than half the children do not receive a polio dose at birth.

Kerala has emerged as the state with the lowest IMR, along with Goa, Manipur, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra which have an IMR of less than five.