New Delhi: Reducing infant and maternal mortality rate in India will not be possible if men do not change their mindset and are not involved in the empowerment of women, Unicef India chief Louis-Georges Arsenault noted on thursday.
"In India specially, gender aspect is very crucial. Though it is empowerment of girls, bringing the boys along is very important as it (reducing infant and maternal mortality rate) will not happen if men do not change their mindset. They will be the men later in life to support women," Mr Arsenault told PTI.
Earlier in the day, the government hosted the 'Global Call to Action' Summit 2015 which seeks to ensure cohesion among countries to end preventable maternal and child death. The Summit was attended by representatives of 24 nations.
Listing out achievements and strides made by India especially in materal and child health, Prime Minister Narendra Modi exuded confidence that India would reach close to achieving the millennium development goal of reducing under-five mortality rate.
Mr Arsenault also emphasised on child marriage and women's education apart from aspects like immunisation, sanitation and nutrition in reducing infant and maternal mortality rate.
"Child marriage is a serious concern. Girls should have access to at least high school education," he said.
Mr Arsenault said that India has one of the highest neonatal deaths in the world, at 57 per cent, and contributes a lot to under-5 mortality rate.
Stressing on the importance of quality of health facilities than quantity, he said though the number of institutional deliveries have increased, neonatal deaths are not reducing at similar pace.
"The institutional deliveries have increased tremendously. It has not added new impact on neonatal deaths. 25 per cent of the new-born babies dying are due to birth asphyxia which is preventable if we have good quality institution delivery," he said.
The institutional delivery in the country has made significant progress from 47 per cent in 2006 to around 79 per cent 2013-14.
Mr Arsenault also observed that India would require specific intervention to achieve a target of 90 per cent immunisation cover by 2020 from the current 65 per cent.
"It requires a very specific set of intervention. You will have to do some outreach. You cannot expect the children to come to the centers, because either the center is not there or the men are not available," he said.
