Jharkhand records low infant mortality rate of 36/1000

Jharkhand's infant mortality rate (IMR) is as low as 36 per 1000 live births, as per the recently released Annual Health Survey (AHS) 2012-13, said a UNICEF release today.
The IMR (death rate of children below 1 year) declined from 41 per 1000 live births in 2010-11 to 38 in 2011-12 and now to 36 in 2012-13, it said.
A survey was conducted in 304 districts across nine states -- Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Odisha and Assam by the office of the Registrar General of India, it said.
Jharkhand's IMR is the lowest among the states.

According to the survey report, five districts (East Singhbhum with IMR of 25, Dhanbad-26, Bokaro-28, Giridih-28 and Koderma- 27) in Jharkhand have already achieved the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of reducing infant mortality rate to 28.
Another four districts (Hazaribagh with IMR of 29, Ranchi - 30, Deoghar- 31 and Garhwa- 33) in the state are on track to achieve the goal by end of 2015, the report said.

However the rate is high in Godda- 54, Sahibganj and Pakur- 52 each and West Singhbhum and Lohardaga- 53 each, it said.
Not only IMR, the neonatal mortality rate (death of children below 28 days) is also lowest in the state with 23 per 1000 live births. It declined from 26 in 2010-11, 24 in 2011-12 to 23 now.

The All India Health Survey (AHS) of 2010-11 and 2011-12 have also shown low IMR and low neonatal mortality rate in the state, the survey report added.