Punjab’s neonatal deaths soar to 7.3%

Punjab has the highest newborn mortality rate in the country with 73 of every 1,000 children losing their lives mainly because of not following family planning.

A report, containing data of five year, released by the Population Council, a nongovernment organisation, shows that the mortality rate in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa is 53, Sindh 60 and Balochistan 66. The highest ratio of mortality is among children aged less than a year.

The report suggested that improvement in adoption of family planning measures in Punjab would help save the lives of thousands of children annually. It called upon the Punjab government to launch an awareness campaign for the purpose.

The report highlighted that the ratio of death of newborn children in Punjab had alarmingly increased to 73 per 1,000 births. It cited several reasons for the situation, including an increase in population and not following family planning methods.

The Population Council noted that Punjab had the highest newborn mortality rate among the country's provinces.

According to the report, Pakistan is among the countries with the highest death rates of newborn babies with the annual figure recorded at 62 out of every 1,000.

The report suggested promotion of population control and family planning programmes for improving the situation.

It pointed out that increasing the implementation of family planning from the current 34 to 52 per cent could help save the lives of 140,000 children annually in the country, while 73,000 lives would be saved in Punjab by improving prevalence of family planning from 38 to 54%.

Population Council Project Director Samia Ali Shah said while commenting on the report that the death rate of newborn children in Punjab was a serious issue that required the attention of the government and all stakeholders in the health sector.

"Obviously, lack of awareness about family planning and increase in population are the major reasons of the high mortality rate as basic facilities are shrinking in proportion to the huge population of the country. In this situation, especially mothers and newborn children are suffering," she said.

She said the population of the country was around 229.5 million with 2.4% annual increase, while the population of Punjab was 121.5 million with 2.13% annual increase.

"We are a small country but have the fifth highest population in the world. We have to do something to control population growth.

The result of increase in population is that there will be less health, food, job, water and education resources for each individual," she said.

She said Punjab had a huge population, especially in the villages with people unaware of family planning and less food resources for the newborn. "This situation is the major reason of newborn babies' deaths. The high ratio of child births is leading to newborn children facing malnutrition. About 23.5% children in the province have low weight," Samia Ali Shah said.

Lady Willingdon Hospital Medical Superintendent Dr Sabahat Habib said,

"Ours is the biggest hospital of Punjab with the highest number of deliveries annually. Our women are not aware about the methods of family planning and also about their health.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 2^nd, 2022.