Workshop on Maternal, Neonatal and Child Health Scenario in the Slums of Meerut: Implications for Program and Policy, New Delhi, 14th April, 2009
Link to Workshop Presentations – http://uhrc.in/module-ContentExpress-display-ceid-100.html
It is estimated that about 335 million people inhabit India’s cities, of which about a fourth (80.8 million) are poor. Uttar Pradesh (UP), which is the second largest state in terms of urban poor population, houses nearly 11 million urban poor. The state’s urban poor have a high Neonatal, Infant and Under-5 Mortality Rates.
Of the 340,000 pregnancies every year among this group, only 2% receive complete antenatal care. More than 80% deliveries are conducted at home. Only 15% children receive complete immunization. (Source: National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-3 data for UP, reanalyzed on the basis of wealth index.)
It is a challenge for the Government to provide quality and affordable healthcare services to the urban poor. Effective program strategies require in-depth insight into the health related problems faced by this population, especially with regard to maternal, neonatal and child health.
To enhance understanding in this regard, a study was conducted on the Maternal, Neonatal and Child Health Scenario among the urban poor, in the slums of Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, in 2008. Meerut was selected for the study in view of being one of the largest cities in the programmatically high priority state of Uttar Pradesh, with a population of 1.07 million persons. It also has the highest slum population among cities in the state and is second highest after Mumbai in terms of slum-population ratio.
The study was conducted jointly by Urban Health Resource Centre, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and Chatrapati Sahuji Maharaj Medical University. It was funded by United States Agency for International Development.
A Workshop was organized in New Delhi to share the findings of the study on Maternal, Neonatal and Child Health Scenario in the slums of Meerut: Implications for Program and Policy”, on 14th April 2009, at India International Centre.
The workshop brought together officials from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, State Governments of UP and Delhi, Meerut District Health Department, faculty from Meerut Medical College, King George Medical University (KGMU), Johns Hopkins University, and members of the National Neonatology Forum, who shared their experiences at the event.
Workshop Sessions
Dr Marta Levitt Dayal, MCH Star, presented an Overview of the Workshop, laying out the sessions for the day.
Professor Robert Black, Chair of the Dept of International Health, Johns Hopkins University, gave a presentation on the Global Overview of Maternal Neonatal and Child Health – Need for an Urban Focus.
Dr Gajraj Prasad, Additional Director, Maternal and Child Health (MCH), Directorate of Family Welfare, Government of UP, delivered the Special Remarks. He gave a presentation on Urban Health in Uttar Pradesh: Challenges and Opportunities.
