Awareness of Mortality Rate shockingly Low, According to Survey

Awareness of child mortality rates is shockingly low, according to new survey

Eight out of ten do not know that 1.83 million children under 5 die every year in India

New Delhi, August 20: A new survey shows eight out of ten among the middle class underestimate the levels of child mortality in India. Though nearly 60 per cent of those surveyed felt that the problem of child mortality was “very serious” in India, a shocking eight out of ten did not know that nearly 2 million children under the age of five die every year in India of diseases and conditions that are easily treatable and preventable. India has the highest number of children dying for any country in the world.

The Global Movement for Children, a coalition of organisations that includes Save the Children, UNICEF, PLAN, CARE and World Vision conducted a one-month survey by TNS among middle-class respondents in five metros across India to understand how this influential section of society perceives the issue of child mortality.

“It is indeed tragic that the majority of respondents underestimated the number of children dying every year. If people understood how affordable and feasible it is to prevent children dying, they'd be shocked. There is no real pressure for action largely because of public lack of awareness of the scale of the problem,” Thomas Chandy, CEO, Save the Children, said.

The organisations that have commissioned the survey are working to build public awareness about child mortality before a major global U.N. summit in New York in September where they want the Government of India to play a key role in tackling child mortality. “The time is right for India to play a leadership role at the global summit in New York in order to drive momentum for tackling child mortality. We know that change is possible as we have already seen it in the States we work in India as well as in other countries,” Dr. Jayakumar Christian, National Director, World Vision, said.

“Though the country has made significant progress in reducing child mortality over the past decades progress is not happening fast enough. At the global summit in New York, CARE urges bold progress in the ongoing negotiations to ensure that the outcome of the summit provides a turning point in the collective efforts to reduce child mortality by two thirds by 2015,” said Dr. Musa, CEO, CARE.

Interestingly, 55 per cent of respondents in the survey felt optimistic that the situation regarding child mortality had improved in India. The Global Movement for Children believes that a campaign targeting the middle class in India and shifting their attitudes toward child mortality from ‘acceptable/unavoidable’ to ‘unacceptable/solvable’ will create the pressure for government action on policy change, implementation and investing in resources.

“The middle class in India is a small but growing segment of society whose influence on policy makers is considerable. It is critical for this category to be aware of the issues surrounding child mortality and be willing to take action for change to happen,” said Edouard Beigbeder, UNICEF.

An overwhelming 92 per cent of those surveyed felt that that it was feasible for India to achieve MDG 4 on reducing under-five mortality. “Eighty per cent of the respondents had not taken any initiative regarding child mortality. The problem is the low level of knowledge on child mortality among the middle class. The majority appears to be unaware of the causes and solutions,” Plan India Executive Director, Bhagyashri Dengle, said.