Punjab plans to reduce under-five mortality rate

Punjab government, in collaboration with the United Nations Children Fund (Unicef), has launched a plan under the millennium goal to reduce under-five mortality rate (U5MR) by two-thirds, between 1990 and 2015, to assess levels of human development in 25 years.
The official sources told newsmen that basic information required for indirect estimates of infant mortality rate (IMR) and U5MR was being collected, which included number of women in the child-bearing bracket and their age, percentage of age distribution, mean number of children ever born (MCEB), proportion of survivors among women, children, boys and girls.
The sources said the Punjab Chief Minister was taking keen interest in the programme and had directed the planning and development departments to accelerate and enhance liaison with the Federal Bureau of Statistics and Unicef, so that the desired goal was achieved in the said period.
The U5MR plan studies the probability of a child dying before its fifth birthday, while the IMR is based on the probability of a child dying before its first birthday.
Various agencies of provincial and Federal governments, with the help of Unicef, are conducting multiple indicator cluster survey (MICS) to determine the root causes of U5MR and IMR in Punjab.
The agencies are also compiling, for the first time, three types of data according to five-year age interval for women aged 15 to 49, for the total female population of reproductive age, the MCEB against the proportion of children who die.
The preliminary data from Punjab indicates that the overall U5MR was 112 per 1000 and the IMR was 77 per 100 live births between 1997 and 2001.
During the said period, the situation in rural areas was not satisfactory where the ratio soared to 119 and 82 for U5MR and IMR respectively, while in urban areas it was 107 and 74, and in major cities it was 75 and 55 respectively.
The overall sex ratio in the aforesaid figures, male children constituted 118 in U5MR and 81 in IMR, while female children were 105 and 73 respectively.
The study will provide a vital clue to the efficacy of government efforts to ensure not only better mother-and-child health care, but also a better life to all citizens, with the help and involvement of various international organisations, said sources.