There has been no reduction in neonatal mortality rate figures in the country since 2003. From the 2002 figures, when 37.1 babies in a thousand died within the first 28 days of their life, the figure has remained static at 36 from 2003 to 2007.

These are also the last available figures, said experts at a seminar on “Improving newborn survival in India” held in the Capital on Wednesday.

The seminar, a collaboration between the Unicef and NGO Heal (Heal Essayists and Authors League), was attended by leading experts in the field, including Dr Rajesh Mehta, National Professional Officer with the World Health Organisation, Dr Neelam Kler, chairperson of the Department of Neonatology at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, and Dr Vinod Paul, HoD, Paediatrics, AIIMS.

Of the four million neonatal deaths globally, India alone accounts for almost one-fourth — 0.9 million. Another 55 babies die per thousand within the first year of birth.

“While rural India accounts for a majority of these deaths, going by the data, income does not play a major role,” said Dr Paul, also the director of the WHO collaborating centre on newborn health for Southeast Asia.

Kerala, he said, which has a lower per capita income than Punjab, has lowered the infant mortality figure to 7, slightly higher than 5, the figure in developed countries, which is also the Millennium Development Goal.

In comparison, Punjab, which has the highest per capita income in the country, registered 29 deaths per thousand while Bihar, one of the low-income zones, had a figure of 28. Orissa has a figure of 48 per thousand, worse than many African states. “It is not about being rich, it is about doing the right thing,” Dr Paul said.

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