Maternal, infant mortality still areas of concern: Azad

Despite the achievements made under National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), key health indicators like maternal mortality ratio (MMR) and infant mortality ratio (IMR) are still "areas of concern", union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said today.

Despite the achievements made under National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), key health indicators like maternal mortality ratio (MMR) and infant mortality ratio (IMR) are still "areas of concern", union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said on Wednesday.

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"In spite of the achievements made so far there are still areas of concern. The pace of decline in various key health indicators like IMR, MMR, Total Fertility Rate and death and morbidity due to communicable diseases has not improved as compared to pre-NRHM period," Azad said.

The minister said this in his inaugural address at State Health Ministers' Conference which began.

He said the Government of India has provided Rs 53,000 crore to the states under NRHM in the last six years.

"One of the success stories of the last year was progress of polio eradication after the introduction of biovalent polio vaccine. There have been only 42 cases in 2010 as compared to nearly more than 700 cases in 2009. In the case of TB, we have achieved more than 72 per cent detection rate and 87 per cent cure rate, which are more than the WHO recommended levels."

Azad also said that government was formulating National Urban Health Mission which would take care of infrastructure needs at district and sub-divisional levels.

About 25 ministers of health, medical education and family Welfare from the states, along with health secretaries, are attending the conference.

The conference will focus on issues such as reduction in maternal and infant mortality rates, population stabilisation, prevention and control of infectious diseases, National Vector-Borne Disease Control Programme, Revised National TB Control Programme and strengthening of disease surveillance systems.