NEW DELHI, May 10, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --
Puneet Dalmia Introduces Socio-Economic Initiatives
A country's growth projections are usually measured only in terms of the GDP. The slowing economy may bring down the GDP growth rate to 5%. As alarming as this may sound, there is another area of critical importance which should worry us much more than it does at present: our low human development index and the neonatal and juvenile mortality rates.
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In India, for every 1000 births, 61 children die even before they celebrate their 5th birthday. Countries like Sri Lanka and Nepal have a better record than us at 12 and 48 respectively. In China, the Child Mortality Rate (CMR) is 15. Our CMR was over 110 in 1990 and has come down to just over 60 in 2011. As a signatory to the United Nation's Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), India has a commitment to bring down the CMR to 38 by 2015, which appears almost impossible in under two years.
Whilst India continues its struggle against the menace of child mortality, Dalmia Cement joined this battle in 2009. In consonance with the MDGs, we decided to work on a program that would bring down the CMR in its program area to half of the rate that year by 2015. Hence, an exhaustive health program was evolved at all active CSR program locations, which were Jawaharpur, Negohi, Ramgarh (Uttar Pradesh), Dalmiapuram, Ariyalur (Tamil Nadu) and Kadapa (Andhra Pradesh). The situation in Uttar Pradesh in particular was appalling, as the CMR was over 80, which was even worse than the national rate.
Our teams realised that one major cause of child mortality in India was poor ante and post natal care, 42% of the child mortalities were constituted by the neonatal with malnourishment and anaemia being the second most important cause.
We collaborated with the Auxiliary Nurse Midwifes (ANMs) and the Anganwadi Workers, and launched an exhaustive awareness campaign in the villages and a drive for universal immunization of expectant and lactating mothers as well as of the children. These were initiated with on ground monitoring of nutritional supplements meant for the mothers and children to ensure that the distribution and intake was adequate. All of this was further supplemented by organising health check-up and treatment camps in the villages at regular intervals.
Our effort was lauded at a recently held roundtable conference organised by the Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs (IICA) and which was attended by UNICEF and USAID amongst others.
Puneet Dalmia, MD of Dalmia Cement says, "Dalmia Cement considers high child mortality rate a key issue in India and is committed to eliminating it in all areas possible." With all these efforts being put in to achieve the goal, we did a quick reality check last month. The data that we gathered from the locations is encouraging. The CMR in the current year in all of the 3 locations in Uttar Pradesh is close to 35 (almost half of the national rate), coming down by more than half as compared to the rate in 2009. Dalmiapuram and Ariyalur (Dalmia Cement Plants) haven't registered a single case of child death so far in this year.
About Dalmia Bharat Cement: (BSE Code: 533309|NSE Symbol: DALMIABEL) A pioneer in the cement manufacturing for over seven decades and a leading brand in the South, East and North East India. With a growing capacity, currently pegged at 21.8 MTPA, Dalmia Bharat Cement (including associate companies) is a top quartile player in India. Visit us at http://www.dalmiacement.com.
About Dalmia Bharat Group: Dalmia Bharat Group with a turnover of over 7000 crore is a leading conglomerate of India with strong presence in cement, sugar, refractories and power. Visit us at http://www.dalmiabharat.com.
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Primary Media Contact: Amit Chaudhery, [email protected], 91-9810206370
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