Child Health Care
India, with 1.21 billion of population is the world’s second most populous country after China. An estimated 26 millions of children are born every year. It is alarming that with an absolute increase in population of about 181 million in the population during the census 2001 and 2011, there is a reduction of 5.05 million in the child population aged 0-6 years during the same period. According to 2011 census, the total number of children aged 0-6 years is 158.79 million which is reduced by 3.1 percent compared to the child population in 2001 census. According to the data available the share of children of the age group 0-6 years to the total population is 13.1 percent in 2011.
Children of today are tomorrow’s citizen; thus it is extremely important to ensure good health for children. Child health plays a vital role in the development of a country. The first six years of life constitutes the most crucial span in life. At this stage if life, the foundation is laid for mental, physical and social development. Children are the assets for tomorrow’s productivity. The growth of any country is depending on the availability of healthy human resource. As children represent the future generation, thus makes them healthy is of crucial importance. Healthy children ensure for healthy adult who in turn ensure a sound growth and development of the economy. New-born particularly infant and under-five children are more vulnerable to malnutrition, mortality and other diseases, which can be easily prevented or treated.
India is listed in the countries where malnutrition and child mortality is alarmingly high. According to the data released by the Office of the Registrar General of India, indicate that although the mortality rate especially infant and under-five mortality rate is declining over the years, yet there are some states where these rates are very high. This shows that instead the progress in health care sector in India, young population especially in the age group 0-6 years continuously lost their lives due to inadequate nutrition and proper care. The mortality rates and nutritional status of the children reflects the threats in child health. Despite various measures and programmes to control the malnutrition and mortality among children the condition remains a cause of serious concern that need to be addressed urgently. The latest survey on children brought out by the ministry of Women and Child Development titled “Rapid Survey on Children – 2013-2014” shows the deprived condition of children in the country.
Global Hunger Index
(GHI) is an index that places a third of weight on proportion of the population that is estimated to be undernourished, a third on the estimated prevalence of low body weight to height ratio in children younger than five, and remaining third weight on the proportion of children dying before the age of five for any reason. According to 2011 GHI report, India has improved its performance by 22% in 20 years, from 30.4 to 23.7 over 1990 to 2011 period. However, its performance from 2001 to 2011 has shown little progress, with just 3% improvement. A sharp reduction in the percentage of underweight children has helped India improve its hunger record on the Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2014. India now ranks 55 among 76 emerging economies. Between 2005 and 2014, the prevalence of underweight children under the age of five fell from 43.5% to 30.7%.
We all know that raising a good child with good health is the objective of every parents, your child’s health includes physical, mental and social well-being. Most parents know the basics of keeping children healthy, like offering them healthy foods making sure they get enough sleep and exercise and insuring their safety It is also important for children to get regular check-ups, we organise than Medical check-ups for prevention and early diagnose such as
- Significant weight gains or loss
- Sleep problems or change in behaviour
- Fever higher than 102
- Rashes or skin infections
- Frequent sore throats
- Breathing problems
In such a scenario a mobile medical services delivery system is the most practical mechanism. We planned Wheels programme to operate in states of country covering slums with the high population. This will be a unique mobile hospital programme that seeks to address problems of mobility, accessibility and availability of primary health care with a special focus on children and women, in urban slums and remote rural areas.