According to WHO, almost 19,000 children under
five years of age are dying every day across the world. India tops the list of
countries with the highest number with around 18 lakh such deaths annually. For
India, despite it being one of the fastest growing economies, there has been no
visible pattern between per capita income growth and the rate of reduction of
child mortality rates. One-third of all malnourished children live in India. Of
the 26 million children born in India every year, approximately 1.83 million
children die before their fifth birthday.
More than two thirds of the infants die in the
very first month of life. 90%of these deaths are due to easily preventable
causes like pneumonia and diarrhea.
Every child has the right to survive. We can
reduce the numbers of children dying from easily preventable causes. Most of
the children who die each year could be saved by low cost, evidence-based,
cost-effective primary care practices such as vaccines, antibiotics,
micronutrient supplementation, insecticide treated bed nets, improved family
care and breastfeeding practices, and oral rehydration therapy. These low cost
primary care interventions could reduce neonatal mortality by up to 70 per
cent. General Practitioners have a very important role to play in reducing the
neonatal mortality.
To address this important problem, IMA eVarsity has launched the
Fellowship in Primary Care Paediatrics to equip the General Practitioners with the
latest clinically relevant information, and to mentor them in competently
handling all aspects of paediatric disease.