67 m Indian kids don’t get health care: report

The report has been compiled by “Save the Children”, a US-based global independent humanitarian organisation. Nigeria comes second in the list, with 16 million children (66 per cent) falling under this category.

“Over one million deaths of children occur in their first month in India,” says the report, blaming this on non-availability of medical facilities.

The report adds that Indian girls are 61 per cent more likely to die between the ages of one and five years. “This means that for every five boys who die, eight are girls. The survival gap between girls and boys in India has widened,” it says, adding, “in Punjab, expenditure on health care during the first two years of life was 2.3 times greater for sons than for daughters.”

The report also includes the first-ever “Basic Health Care Report Card” of 55 developing countries. In India, the poorest children are three times more likely to die than the richest children. Other countries in this category include Azerbaijan, Brazil, Bolivia, Cambodia, Egypt, Indonesia, Morocco, Nigeria, South Africa and the Philippines.

INDIA TOPS LIST

Countries with children under five years who don’t get basic health care

•India: 67,127,000

•Nigeria: 16,090,000

•Bangladesh: 11,656,000

•Ethiopia: 11, 317,000

•Pakistan: 10,478,000