According to the UNICEF, in 2006, 2.5 million child deaths occurred in India (2.1 million) and China (415,000), accounting for nearly a third of all child deaths in the world. While child mortality rates have declined in both countries, there are massive disparities in the availability of healthcare across different socio-economic strata.

“The divide between rich and poor is rising at a troubling rate, leaving vast numbers of mothers and children at risk of increasing relative poverty and continued exclusion from quality primary healthcare services,” the report says, adding that pneumonia, diarrhoea and malnutrition are major causes of child death in the region. Also, in India one out of every three women is underweight putting them at risk of having low-birth-weight babies, who are 20 times more likely to die in infancy than healthy babies. In addition, it noted that the most fragile period for a child in Asia-Pacific is during the very first moments of life.

With regard to prevalent gender disparities, the report states, “South Asia is the only sub-region in the world where female life expectancy is lower than male and where girls are more likely to be underweight than boys.”

It goes on to underline a disturbing trend across the region, noting that public health expenditure remains well below the world average of 5.1 per cent, with South Asia spending only 1.1 per cent of its GDP.

“What is needed is political will and sound strategies to dramatically increase investment in public health services that specifically target the poorest,” it says, also emphasising that privatisation in the health sector has a downside.