Infant Protection Day: Fostering Child Health and Awareness for a Brighter Future

• Origin: Nearly 5 million infants died in 1990 due to a lack of awareness of the protection of Infants, prompting many countries to take the necessary measures for better child health care and to reduce Infant Mortality Rate (IMR).
  • European nations established Infant Protection Day for creating awareness among the people about Child Care Services and to reduce the Infant Mortality Rate (IMR).
• Aim: Infant Protection Day is observed with the goal of creating awareness of protecting, promoting, and developing infants, who are the future citizens of the country.
  • Infant Protection Day also puts its focus on reducing Infant Mortality rates and Child Mortality Rates.
    • Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) is the probability of death of children under the age group less than 1 year per 1,000 live births.
    • Child Mortality Rate (CMR) is the Probability of death of children under the age group less than 5 years per 1000 live births.
• Theme for 2023: ‘Ensuring Every Child’s Right to Thrive’ is the theme for the year 2023.

Importance of Infant Protection Day: Nurturing Health and Awareness for Better Tomorrow

• Future Generation Protection: Infants are the future Citizens and their protection will help in building a strong nation in the future.
• Critical Development: Many important physical developments such as Hearing, Communication, and Vision occur during the infancy stage. It is necessary to take care of infants for their future development.
• Vaccination: Infant protection day also advocates vaccination of infants so that they are protected from future infections.
• Healthcare Systems: Infant protection day also puts emphasis on the need to develop quality healthcare systems in the world.
• Generation of Awareness: The government hopes to celebrate infant protection day to raise awareness about the protection and nurturing that infants require.

Infant Mortality in India: Current Status and Leading Causes of Infant Deaths

• India has a higher infant mortality rate than other countries in the absence of quality and affordable health care. 
• Currently, the infant mortality rate for India in 2023 is 26.619 deaths per 1000 live births, a 3.89% decline from 2022.

• Major causes of infant mortality include:
  • Prematurity & low birth weight (31.2 per cent)
  • Pneumonia (17.5 per cent)
  • Birth asphyxia & birth trauma (9.9 per cent)
  • Other non-communicable diseases (9.6 per cent)
  • Diarrheal diseases (5.8 per cent)
  • Congenital anomalies (5.7 per cent)
  • Injuries (4.9 per cent)
  • Cause unknown (4.3 per cent)
  • Fever of unknown origin (4.1 per cent)
  • Acute bacterial sepsis 
  • Severe infections (3.8 per cent) 
  • Other remaining causes (3.3 per cent)

Government Schemes for Infant Protection and Maternal Health in India

• Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY): JSY is a centrally-sponsored scheme that integrates cash assistance with delivery and post-delivery care. The scheme aims to reduce maternal and infant mortality by promoting institutional delivery among pregnant women. 
• Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakram (JSSK): JSSK has been launched with the objective to eliminate out of pocket expenses for both pregnant women and sick infants accessing public health institutions for treatment.
  • It will provide free and cashless services to pregnant women (normal deliveries and caesarean operations) and sick newborn (up to 30 days after birth) in Government health institutions in both rural and urban areas.
• Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY): PMMVY is a maternity benefit program introduced by the government of India. Under the programme, a cash incentive of Rs 5000/- (in three installments) will be provided directly in the bank/post office account of Pregnant Women and Lactating Mothers.
• Pradhan Mantri Suraskshit Matritva Abhiyaan: This scheme aims to provide fixed-day assured, comprehensive and quality antenatal care universally to all pregnant women on the 9th of every month.
• LaQshya: It is a programme to improve the quality of Labour Room across 2100 health facilities across the country including medical colleges.
• Universal Immunization Programme (UIP): This scheme will aim to provide vaccination to children against life threatening diseases such as Tuberculosis, Diphtheria, Pertussis, Polio, Tetanus, Hepatitis B, Measles, Rubella, Pneumonia and Meningitis.
• Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK): This is a scheme for health screening, early detection of birth defects, diseases, deficiencies, development delays and early intervention services to all children in the age group of 0-18 years. 

Way forward – Building Health Infrastructure for Future Generations: A Vision for Infant Protection

Infant Protection Day will not just create awareness on the protection of infants and securing the country’s future, but also promote creation of necessary health infrastructure in the country.