Infant Mortality Rates Fall Where 'Immunisation' Rates Are Low

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New Zealand Is Ahead Of Many Countries For Infant Well Being, But Low For Immunisations

The Unicef report, the State of the World's Children, showed New Zealand was on a par or ahead of the world on several counts for child wellbeing, including infant mortality, but it exposed the nation's low ranking for immunisations.

Of the six immunisations for one-year-old babies, New Zealand was well below the developed world average for four of them. It equalled the others.

In the worst example, only 79 per cent of one-year-olds had received immunisation against measles. In the developed world, 98 per cent had received it by that age and in the least developed countries, 76 per cent had received it.

The Unicef report showed New Zealand lagging the developed world (98 per cent) by 7 percentage points for rates of immunisation against pertussis.

The improvement in New Zealand's under-five child mortality rates from 21 per cent in 1970 to 11 per cent in 1990 to 6 per cent in 2007 fell almost perfectly in line with the developed world.

A child mortality rate of 6 per cent put the country on a par with Britain, Australia and Canada but behind Israel, the Netherlands, France and Germany.

The mortality rate for under-one-year-olds had also fallen from 9 per cent in 1990 to 5 per cent in 2007.

Source: Stuff.co.nz, 26 January 2009.

And the same thing is happening in India

According to One World South Asia, child death rates have lowered at the same time as 'immunisation' rates:

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May 11, 2006
http://southasia.oneworld.net/article/view/132610/1/6684

Two recent health surveys carried out by the Government have thrown up mixed results. While one reports that the Infant Mortality Rate has fallen below 60 for the first time in the country, the worrying sign is that the already low immunisation rates are showing further decline.

The most alarming is the case of Uttar Pradesh, which shows a fall in immunisation from 43.7 per cent in 1998-99 to 28.1 per cent in the latest data.

In 1998-1999, 54 per cent of the children in the country were reported to be fully immunised. But a district household survey 2002-2004, the data for which was released last month, shows a decline in this to 47.6 per cent. In 1989-99, India had one-third of the world?s non-immunised children.

Immunisation rates seem to have fallen across the country, including Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, which account for 40 per cent of the total children in the age group of zero to one who need immunisation. But unlike Uttar Pradesh, Bihar has shown only a marginal decline, from 24.4 to 22.4 per cent.

Experts believe that the focus on polio eradication, at the cost of routine immunisation, could have contributed to the decline.

The other states showing low figures are Rajasthan (25.4 per cent), Tripura (26.7 per cent), Jharkhand (29.3 per cent) and Madhya Pradesh (32.5 per cent).

The states at the other end of the spectrum are Tamil Nadu (with an immunisation rate of 92.1 per cent), Kerala (81.2 per cent), Pondicherry (89.4 per cent), Goa (81.5 per cent) and Himachal Pradesh (79.4 per cent).

There is good news, however, on the infant mortality front. For the first time, India has reported IMR below 60, with the survey from Registrar General of India released recently showing 58 deaths per 1,000 live births in the country.

Though the rates are still high compared to other countries, the figures have shown decline from 68/1,000 live births in 2000, and 60/1,000 live births in 2004.' (Indian Express).

Child Mortality Rate is Lower in Areas with No Unicef Vaccination Programme

A UN programme to combat child deaths from disease in West Africa has failed, a Johns Hopkins University study says.

Unicef spent $27m (£17m) rolling out vaccinations, vitamin A pills and bed nets to protect against malaria from 2001 to 2005 in areas of 11 countries.

The study, published in the British medical journal Lancet, claimed that child deaths fell by 13% in areas of Benin targeted by Unicef.

But in areas of the country where the programme was not introduced, the death rate dropped by almost 25%.

In Mali the researchers found death rates fell by 24% in districts where the Unicef programme was set up, but 31% elsewhere in the country.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/8455444.stm

Infant Mortality Rates Fall Where 'Immunisation' Rates Are Low

New Zealand Is Ahead Of Many Countries For Infant Well Being, But Low For Immunisations

And the same thing is happening in India

Child Mortality Rate is Lower in Areas with No Unicef Vaccination Programme

So in Benin there was a 12% DECREASE in deaths when children WEREN'T getting vaccinated and a 7% DECREASE in Mali!