question_answer 15)

What are the main characteristics of health of the people of our country?

Answer:

The health status of a country can be assessed through indicators such as infant mortality and maternal mortality rates, life expectancy and nutrition levels, along with the incidence of communicable and non-communicable diseases. Some of the health indicators in India are given in the table below  

Indicators	India
Infant Mortality Rate/1000 live births	68
Under-5 Morality/1000 live births	87
Birth by skilled attendants (% of total)	43
Life expectancy at birth (in years)	67

Sources World Health Report 2005 and Economic Survey 2007-08. The following characteristics of health of the people of our country emerge from the above table (i) Life expectancy at birth is only 67 years which is low in comparison to global standards. (ii) Infant modality as well as child mortality rates are still high in India though they have shown a declining trend in the past Few years. (iii) Around 60% of births In India still take place without the help of skilled attendants.