Cast down I was when I recently saw the Pulitzer Prize winning photograph, I truly exalt the way he took poignant photograph of an emaciated toddler who collapsed from hunger on her way to a feeding center in famine-ravaged Sudan while a vulture ominously loomed in the background was originally published in the New York Times. Later described it as “a metaphor for Africa’s despair”. The picture depicts a famine-stricken child crawling towards United Nations food camp, located a kilometer away. The vulture is waiting for the child to die so that it can eat it. This picture shocked the whole world. No one knows what happened to the child, including the photographer Kevin Carter who left the place as soon as the photograph was taken. This picture shattered the photographer so much that after three months he committed suicide. This is just one story of the most vital topic which is ‘’Maternal and child healthcare’’, the capricious way in which there is spike in death of children as well as their birth givers are extremely catastrophic.
Since Mothers and children in any country comprise a large, vulnerable population subgroup. Maternal health refers to the health of women during pregnancy, childbirth, and the postnatal period. Women have special risks related to childbearing, while children face perils during the course of their overall development. In the attempt to address the myriad health needs of women and children, maternal and child health (MCH) services have been bolstered in India during 1992-93 by the government introduction of the National Child Survival and Safe Motherhood Program. Available data in India indicate a dramatic decline in the rate of maternal mortality over the past three decades, but the level of mortality nonetheless remains alarmingly high. Approximately 70% of maternal deaths could, however, be avoided were deliveries conducted by skilled and trained personnel in clean environments. Covid times was also very disruptive for pregnant women and especially the one’s from poor family as the hospitals were occupied by influential and rich people. Like the rate of maternal mortality, the rate of infant mortality has declined significantly but remains high. Low birth weight, premature birth, infections, birth injuries, and congenital malformations are the major causes of infant death. The main problems currently affecting MCH in India are malnutrition, infection, and the consequences of unregulated fertility.
Continuing population growth is undermining India's natural resource base and jeopardizing the agricultural economy upon which most Indians depend for their livelihood. Moreover, social problems such as female feticide, female infanticide, neglect of female children, lack of awareness, and the inadequate availability and use of MCH services compound the effect of the major medical MCH problems in the country. In 2005, the central government in collaboration
with several state governments launched National Health Mission (NHM) (Originally named National Rural Health Mission), which is one of the most extensive public health programs in the world (Government of India, 2019). The main goal of the NHM is the “attainment of universal access to equitable, affordable and quality health services, accountable and responsive to people's needs, with effective inter-sectoral convergent action to address the wider social determinants of health” (Government of India, 2019). The NHM has special focus on maternal and child health through the component of ‘Reproductive-Maternal- Neonatal-Child and Adolescent Health (RMNCH + A)’. The main programmatic strategies include increased public health spending
for strengthening primary healthcare infrastructure; decentralizing village and district-level health planning and management; employing community health workers (known as ASHAs) to act as bridge between health facilities and communities: providing cash transfer to incentivize pregnant women from low socioeconomic backgrounds to utilize facility-based maternal and child health services.
Whether these programs have met the program goals and subsequently benefited the target population is an important policy concern. Over time, several studies have assessed the impact of the programs. A quick overview of on the topic shows that studies mostly focused on a single or a few health programs and/or a few specific outcomes. Conducting a systematic review of
the studies that assessed the impacts of the programs on maternal and child health outcomes would inform decision-makers for designing and implementing evidence-based policies also awareness about the programmes should be increased.
Many national governments, non-governmental organizations, and multilateral development agencies like World Health Organization (WHO), Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) or International Centre for Research on women have been according to high priority to improve the health of mothers, infants, and children around the world. Investigating the availability and the coverage of the interventions globally, a review in 2003 showed that “the
interventions needed to reduce child mortality by two-thirds by 2015 are available, but the problem still persists.
Thus, we all need to be aware and vigilant about the fact that this is very serious problem and we need to work for this even the exiguous efforts of yours can bring jubilation to someone’s house. We need to promote health along the whole continuum of pregnancy, childbirth and postnatal care is also crucial, Receipt of recommended immunizations by young children. Children's vision screening. Well-child visits in the last year. Receipt of meningococcal vaccine by adolescents Receipt of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination by adolescent and proliferate it as much as possible as ‘Being happy is the greatest form of successes.
GARGI SHARMA
22 JGLS