What is the Infant Mortality Rate?
Introduction to Infant Mortality
Infant mortality is one of the most common health issues worldwide. The best Neonatologist in Navi Mumbai offers the best healthcare services to infants to reduce the possible infant mortality rate in India. However, the Infant Mortality Rate is a rate that a country or organization uses to calculate the death rate of a newborn divided by the number of living birth rates. So, if you are looking for a place to get the proper newborn healthcare facilities, Mangal Prabhu can help you find the best healthcare services.
Definition of Infant Mortality
Infant mortality rate refers to the probability of a newborn death rate before reaching the age of one year. IMR is typically expressed as the number of infant deaths per a thousand live births in a particular year. Infant mortality is a crucial indicator of the well-being of the population. Also, it helps in assessing the quality of living conditions, healthcare, and socio-economic factors of a country.
Causes of Infant Mortality
The possible risk factors of infant death may differ according to multiple factors. However, some of the possible causes of infant death worldwide are:
i) Low birth weight
Low birth weight babies are more likely to suffer from various health issues, infections, and mortality.
ii) Preterm birth
Usually, babies born before the maturity date or before 37 weeks have a higher risk of health issues and mortality.
iii) Infection
Infections like diarrhea, pneumonia, sepsis, etc., can also lead to life-threatening conditions for infants.
Also Read: What Is The Most Common Cause Of Premature Birth?
iv) Malnutrition
Some babies do not get adequate nutrition during pregnancy and sometimes after birth, which leads to infant mortality.
v) Paternal health
Health issues with the mother or father harm a baby. However, poor maternal health, inadequate prenatal care, and risk during pregnancy can also impact newborn mortality.
Impact of Infant Mortality
- Infant mortality can lead to economic losses as a family has to spend on medical expenses, lost productivity, and funeral costs.
- An infant’s loss leads to long-term psychological and emotional consequences for the family.
- It also reduces the global health and development goal.
- Infant mortality is often associated with socioeconomic disparities.
- It highlights deficiencies and lousy quality of healthcare infrastructure.
Strategies to Reduce Infant Mortality
Adopting preventive measures to reduce the infant mortality rate is very important for a country to avoid its impact on the economic and social aspects. However, Mangal Prabhu NICU Hospital in Navi Mumbai considers all the strategies to reduce IMR for a better healthcare system in the country.
- Educate parents during and after pregnancy and encourage regular paternal health care to avoid possible complications
- Offer counseling for high-risk pregnancies and offer the proper intervention for newborn care.
- Provide support and education for infant nutrition, breastfeeding, etc.
- Promote good hygiene, sanitization, and adequate healthcare facilities.
- Ensure accessibility to vaccination and guide its importance.
- Offer the best-quality healthcare services to all the regions of the country.
Conclusion
Infant mortality is one of the most common issues that can impact social, economic, and other factors in the country. However, by embracing various strategies, ensuring better healthcare services, maternal health, and other factors can help to reduce the risk of infant death.