MATERNAL AND CHILD HEALTH ISSUES

• Information on maternal and child health indicators among slum-dwellers shows that their health conditions are 2 to 3 times worse than the average health levels in other urban areas in the state of Maharashtra.

• According to estimates, health agencies are only reaching roughly 30 percent of the urban poor -- that too in comparatively less poor slums. For example, a study conducted by Nair Hospital in an urban slum located in E Ward (Byculla) found that 44 percent of new born babies had low birth weight compared to 21 percent, the state average for the rest of urban Maharashtra. In another slum called Cheeta Camp in M-East ward (Chembur), three quarters of the women in the reproductive age group were anaemic, compared to the state average of 49 percent in Maharashtra.

• Public health data suggest that about 80 percent of neonatal deaths in Mumbai occur in the first week of life, mainly because of premature deliveries and complications resulting from birth asphyxia.

• Although more than 95% women are registered in the antenatal period, almost 50% amongst them visit a hospital for the first time in the last three months. Plus almost one-third of the 91% who deliver in the hospitals arrive only half an hour before delivery which means there isn't enough time to diagnose and respond to any complications that may arise. 

• The infant mortality rate in Mumbai has been static at 40 per 1000 births in the last six years while the maternal mortality rate has been on a rise.