Andhra Pradesh is closer to Madhya Pradesh and Bihar while Telangana has maintained its South Indian salience of low infant mortality and child mortality. This was revealed by the National Family Health Survey-4 which made the data for 15 states available.
According to the survey (NFHS-4), done after bifurcation of erstwhile Andhra Pradesh, the Infant mortality rate is 35 in Andhra Pradesh which is highest in South India, while Telangana is far above AP with 28. At national level IMR is highest in Madhya Pradesh with 51, followed by Bihar (48) and Uttarakhand (40). The tables are released by the centre today.
While Telangana recorded 26 point decline in the infant mortality rate from the earlier NFHS -3 Andhra Pradesh by just 19 points. Coming to child mortality, deaths among children below five years, (NFHS-4), Andhra Pradesh , with 41 is in the company of Madhya Pradesh (65), Bihar (58) and Uttarakhand (47). The decline in Andhra Pradesh , compared to previous NFHS-3, is just 22. Telangana lowered child mortality rate from 63 to 32.
Among the South India states, the IMR (NGFHS-4) is lowest in Puducherry (16) followed by Tamil Nadu (21) and Karntaka (28). As for child mortality, as per NFHS-4, Puducherry is on top with 16 followed by Tamil Nadu (27) and Karnataka (32).
The infant mortality rate (IMR) is defined as the number of deaths among children under 1 year of age per 1000 live births in the same year . It is regarded as a highly sensitive (proxy) measure of population health. This IMR reflects the apparent association between the causes of infant mortality and other factors that are likely to influence the health status of whole populations such as their economic development, general living conditions, social well being, rates of illness, and the quality of the environment.
The high infant mortality of Andhra Pradesh is not in tune with the hype of development being created by the state government.
The fact that Andhra Pradesh is in the company of Bimaru states shows the general health of Andhra society. Bihar,MP, Rajasthan and UP are Bimaru states which are poor in Human Development Indices.
