1Associate Professor, Forensic Medicine Department, Chennai Medical College Hospital & Research Institute (SRM GROUP), Irungalur, Trichy, Tamilnadu
2Assistant Professor, Forensic Medicine Department, Osmania Medical College, Hyderabad, Telangana
NTR University of Health Sciences, A.P
Online published on 27 July, 2017.
India's child mortality rate has dropped by more than half since 1990 but it still recorded the world's highest number of deaths among children below age five in 2013. India registered 1.34 million under-five deaths in 2013, the highest in the world. Infant and under five mortality rates are excellent indicators of health status of the children. India's infant mortality rate fell from 88 deaths per 1, 000 live births in 1990 to 41 in 2013, while the neonatal mortality rate fell from 51 deaths per 1, 000 live births to 29. About half of the all under-five deaths occur in only five countries-India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Democratic Republic of the Congo and China. Two-thirds of neonatal deaths occur in just 10 countries, with India accounting for more than a quarter of such deaths.
Neonatal mortality, birth injuries, birth asphyxia, prematurity, infections, low birth weight
