The news is shocking! It is reported that about 16.8 lakh children under five die every year in India due to infectious diseases. About 50% of these children could not even live for one month after birth.

This is the information as per the study published in the journal ‘Lancet’. Most of the children have died due to ‘pneumonia’. Birth complications and diarrhoea are the other main killers.

Pneumonia, diarrhoea are usual diseases and there is treatment and remedies for the same. These deaths are mainly due to the inability of the families to treat being poor or the inaccessibility of health care institutions nearby. Despite the GDP growth of the country, the healthcare systems for the poor continues to be deplorable. There are thousands of villages without having any hospitals or health clinic.

The care for the children and the aged are the responsibilities of the state. But in both cases the government has utterly failed. A movement should come up focussing these issues and compelling the government to act.