Marginal improvement in preventing child deaths in India: Report

India has a persisting burden of pneumonia and diarrhoea but there has been a marginal improvement towards coverage of life-saving interventions to prevent child deaths, a new report Wednesday said.

As per the latest estimates from UNICEF, pneumonia and diarrhoea collectively claimed more than 300,000 children in 2013.

The 2014 Pneumonia and Diarrhea Progress Report released by the International Vaccine Access Center (IVAC) at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health highlights India's persisting burden of pneumonia and diarrhoea, but notes marginal progress towards improving coverage of life-saving interventions to prevent child deaths and suffering from these diseases.

According to the annual report, India ranks third lowest compared to the 15 other high burden countries for its Global Action Plan for Pneumonia and Diarrhoea (GAPPD) score.

However, the report also notes that India is in a position to improve its ranking following the recent commitments it has made toward access to child health interventions.

"In India, pneumonia and diarrhoea have been a health challenge for very long time," said V.K. Paul, Head of Pediatrics at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

"It is heartening to see that the government has started intensifying strategies to combat these diseases through various interventions," he said.

This includes the government's decision to introduce the pentavalent vaccine against Hib pneumonia and meningitis in an additional 11 states, introduce rotavirus vaccines for diarrhoea in its routine immunization programme, and step up the measles vaccination programme, he added.

The report also includes a sub-national analysis for India. A total of 27 states in India for which data were available were ranked and of these, Goa performed the best and Meghalaya the worst.

The analysis also revealed high levels of inequities in access to interventions between urban and rural regions within states.

Kate O'Brien, Professor, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Executive Director of IVAC said: "We celebrate the progress in preventing pneumonia this World Pneumonia Day, while recognizing the need to ensure all children have access to care and early diagnosis, vaccines, and medication".