Infant mortality: Under reporting dogs Karnataka data

Sunitha Rao R & Shreyas HS / TNN / Jan 13, 2020, 12:52 IST

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Karnataka lost 44,250 of 40 lakh infants born between April 2015 and October 2019 b efore they turned one, according to the Health Management Information System (HMIS) of the state health and family welfare department. Among districts, Bengaluru tops the list, reporting 4,645 infant deaths since 2015-19.

Infant mortality: Under reporting dogs Karnataka data

Illustration used for representational purpose

BENGALURU/BELAGAVI: Karnataka lost 44,250 of 40 lakh infants born between April 2015 and October 2019 b efore they turned one, according to the Health Management Information System (HMIS) of the state health and family welfare department. Among districts, Bengaluru tops the list, reporting 4,645 infant deaths since 2015-19.
Health department officials, however, admit there is gross under reporting of infant mortality in HMIS portal.

“This problem is not unique to Karnataka. It is observed all over the country, due to the lack of awareness in reporting infant deaths,” says Pankaj Kumar Pandey, commissioner, health and family welfare department.
Problems abound with HMIS data as it does not include death of infants in private hospitals or infants who die at home. “The fault lies with ground-level staff like ASHA workers in collecting data on deaths at home and also with Reproductive Child Health officers, who fail to update collated data on the central HMIS portal,” say officials.

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Losing a child is desperately sad and parents suffer immense anguish, grief and often depression. While the state has made great strides in lowering IMR, it does have an enormously long way to go in catching up with say Japan (IMR of 1) or the US (IMR of 2.3). Babies die for a variety of reasons and, generally, associated risks are far greater for the poverty-stricken. Yet, countries like Sri Lanka have a lower IMR than ours. Perhaps, the focus must shift from cure to prevention. Greater awareness about pregnancy and childbirth would help. Upgrading resources at the village, taluk and district level would do no harm either.

Although the department says HMIS covers 85% of total infant deaths, the problem of under reporting could be graver like in Belagavi. According to data maintained by district level officers, there have been 930 infant deaths in the district in 2018-19, but only 515 (55%) were reflected in HMIS data.
According to district officials, 1,049 infants died in Belagavi during 2016-17 and 816 in 2017-18. However, the state government’s HIMS portal puts the numbers at 538 and 592. The problem continues to persist this year. While district officials said 600 infants died during 2019-20 (till November), HIMS portal said 264 children died in the year till October.
“We have instructed all officers concerned to ensure they collate deaths in public, private hospitals and at homes and update HMIS data on time,” said S Pramila, joint director, demography wing, health and family welfare department.

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