International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics

The infant mortality rate in India is being reduced by an initiative that offers women monetary incentive to give birth in a hospital.

A new study, published in the British medical journal the Lancet, has revealed that four fewer stillbirths and deaths in the first week of life per 1,000 pregnancies took place when women attended hospital to give birth.

Researchers from the Public Health Foundation of India and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington in the US found the cash incentive scheme resulted in two fewer neonatal deaths too per 1,000 live births.

Save the Children said at the end of last year that despite India's economic growth, the country still saw very high infant death rates.

More than 400,000 babies die within the first hours after birth, which is the highest number in any country, Bloomberg reported.

The infant deaths in India account for a fifth of the total worldwide.

Posted by David Smith