Jharkhand records lowest infant mortality rate

Jharkhand has recorded the lowest infant mortality rate in 2012-13, the Unicef said in a statement here Wednesday.

"Jharkhand has the lowest infant mortality rate (IMR), as per the recently released Annual Health Survey 2012-13. The IMR (death rate of children below 1 year) declined from 41 per 1,000 live births in 2010-11 to 38 in 2011-12 and now to 36 in 2012-13," the statement said.

The survey was conducted in 304 districts in 9 states - Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Odisha and Assam by the Registrar General of India.

The IMR in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh are 68 and 62 respectively.

According to the report, five districts (East Singhbhum with IMR of 25, Dhanbad - 26, Bokaro - 28, Giridih - 28 and Koderma - 27) in the state have already achieved the millennium development goal of reducing the IMR to 28.

Another four districts (Hazaribagh - 29, Ranchi - 30, Deoghar - 31 and Garhwa - 33) are on track to achieve the goal by the end of 2015.

However, the rate is high in the districts of Godda - 54, Sahibganj and Pakur - 52 each and West Singhbhum and Lohardaga - 53 each.

State Unicef chief Job Zachariah said Jharkhand could achieve the millennium development goal in 2015.