'Clean water, environment can prevent 1 out of 5 newborn

Noting that India has one of the highest rates of maternal and neonatal mortality, a body working for providing safe water and sanitation today said one in five newborn deaths can be "prevented" by ensuring access to clean water and providing a clean environment during birth.
WaterAid India, which carried out assessments of status of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) in 343 health facilities in 12 districts across six states over a period of 18 months, said its findings highlighted the poor status of WASH in such facilities.
"With 167 maternal deaths per 1,00,000 live births and 28 newborn deaths per 1,000 live births, India has one of the highest rates of maternal and neonatal mortality in the world.

"One in five newborn deaths, could be prevented by ensuring access to clean water and by providing a clean birthing environment," the body said.
It said around 38 per cent of the sampled facilities in Ganjam district of Odisha were found to have "open defecation within the premises" while 36 per cent of the sampled Primary Health Centres (PHCs) in Vizianagaram (Andhra Pradesh) and 47 per cent in Nizamabad (Telangana) had inadequate water supply.
It said 75 per cent of the sampled PHCs and Community Health Centres (CHCs) in Bhopal, 87 per cent in Sehore and 95 per cent in Panna district of Madhya Pradesh had waste dumped in or around the healthcare facility.

Poor biomedical waste management (including segregation and disposal) was observed at all the 30 sampled health facilities across Raichur district in Karnataka.

It also said that 63 facilities were sampled in four districts of Uttar Pradesh, namely Agra, Banda, Lucknow and Varanasi and toilets in all facilities were "unclean" with PHCs and CHCs having very low cleanliness ratings (average of 0.83 and 1.13 out of a score of 10 respectively) and district hospitals with an average score of 3.75 out of 10.
WaterAid India has launched 'Healthy Start', a new campaign with an aim to integrate safe WASH in healthcare facilities.

"We need to plan in a more sustainable manner and not look towards stop gap schemes.
"Focus should not be just the provision of infrastructure but also ensuring that the services are accessible for people visiting these facilities," a Wateraid India statement quoted Minister of State for Health Faggan Singh Kulaste while speaking at the campaign launch.
"Government is open to suggestions from civil society on how to strengthen the implementation of schemes thus reaching out to every person with the appropriate services," the statement further quoting the Minister said.