SHILLONG, May 4 — Mortality rate of children below the age of five years in Meghalaya has been put at a startling 122, much above of the national figure of 94.9, during 1994-98 when the second National Family Health Survey (NFHS-2) was conducted throughout the country, reports PTI. Meghalaya was placed only second to undivided Uttar Pradesh, which accounted for 122.5 deaths to children below the age of five per 1000 births. The mortality rate of the same age group of children in Meghalaya during 1988-92, when the first such survey was undertaken, was put at 86.9.
The data of the survey, which was initiated by the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry and coordinated by the International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai with technical assistance from USA-based ORC Macro and East-West Centre, was released by Meghalaya Governor M M Jacob here. According to the survey, only 16.1 per cent of infants in the 0-3 month age group in the state were exclusively breastfed against a national average of 55.2 per cent.
Meghalaya thus ranked below all other states in the country. Sikkim with 16.3 per cent was placed just above it. The NFHS-2 also showed only 63 per cent of households in Meghalaya were using iodised salt of at least 15 parts per million (ppm) — the lowest among the eight states in the North Eastern region. A minimum of iodisation at the level of 15 ppm was recommended to deter miscarriages, brain disorders, cretinism and to prevent retarded psychomotor development, it said.
The survey, which was primarily funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) with supplementary financing from UNICEF, showed 67.6 per cent children in the 6-35 months age-group were suffering from anaemia in Meghalaya. The anaemia was measured by the hemocue instrument from a single drop of blood. In the N-E region, Meghalaya was placed second only to Sikkim with 76.5 per cent in this regard.
Only 9 per cent married women aged between 15-49 years in Meghalaya are using modern temporary contraception – a figure lowest in the North-east, while 25.5 per cent women between 20-24 yeas in the state got married before 18 years of age. The countrywide average was however 50 per cent in this regard, the survey indicated.
The state had 22.4 per cent children of below three yeas receiving only oral rehydration salts (ORS) to combat diarrhoea and 51.9 per cent of the same age group getting oral rehydration therapy (ORT). As against 17.1 per cent in the country, only 10.7 per cent of children aged between 12.35 months in Meghalaya received at least one dose of Vitamin A in the past six months.
The percentage of children between 6.14 years attending schools in Meghalaya was shown as 80.7 for males and 85.2 for females the survey said.