New Delhi, Nov 4 (IANS) Urgent workable solutions is the need of the hour to prevent child deaths in India, where millions of children below the age of five die every year due to lack of proper healthcare facilities, an international NGO said Friday.
According to Save the Children, every 20 seconds a child under five dies in India. Nearly 1.7 million children under the age of five die every year in India.
'Saving the lives of these children is not rocket science. It requires investment in health workers rooted in the community and fully functional primary health care centres,' Save the Children CEO Thomas Chandy said.
Referring to recent series of infant deaths in West Bengal, Chandy said: 'It is not a case in isolation. In fact, 1.7 million children under the age of five are dying every year across towns and villages of India, which speaks volumes of the healthcare system in our country.'
India has a shortage of 2.6 million health workers, according to Save the Children's health report.
The shortfall means that millions of children below the age of five are at great risk of dying every year from easily preventable diseases such as pneumonia and diarrhoea simply because they do not have access to a trained health worker.
'We require a political will matched by resources to prevent child deaths,' the statement added.
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