Banking on the Milk of Human Kindness

Despite severe malnutrition among children, which erstwhile Indian PM Dr Manmohan Singh called a "national shame", India has still not prioritised breastfeeding. Credit: Neeta Lal/IPSBy Neeta LalNEW DELHI, Jun 1 2016 (IPS)The recent launch of Amaara, New Delhi’s first human milk bank, has been greeted with much cheering. The initiative endorses the long-term goal of reducing infant mortality and addresses the critical issue of lack of mothers’ milk for physically fragile newborns in India’s capital city.The service couldn’t have come a day too soon. India, a nation of 1.25 billion people, has the world’s highest number of low birth weight babies, with a critically high Neo-natal Mortality Rate (NMR) rate described as deaths in the period of 0-28 days per thousand live births. India witnessed 28 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2013 and an Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) of 40 in the age 0-1 year per thousand live births according to the Annual Report of India’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.Of the 26 million babies born in India every year, one million babies are blighted before they reach the age of one month. Despite reducing child mortality – from 2.3 million deaths of children under the age of five in 2001 to 1.4 million in 2012 – India still accounts for 20 percent of infant mortality globally.Many of these needless tragedies can be avoided, say doctors, if the little ones are nourished with mother’s milk. “F...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - Category: Global & Universal Authors: Tags: Asia-Pacific Development & Aid Featured Food & Agriculture Headlines Health Population Poverty & SDGs Women's Health breastfeeding Child Malnutrition India infant mortality milk banks Mother and Child Health Sustainable Devel Source Type: news