Stark infant mortality figures despite rapid economic growth; most deaths are preventableIndia accounts for a fifth of all newborn deaths worldwide, according to the major report published by charity group Save the Children to launch a global campaign to reduce infant mortality.
Nearly two million children aged below five die every year in India - one every 15 seconds - the highest number anywhere in the world, research has shown.
Government initiatives in India to provide basic health care to all have not changed the grim reality for the nation's babies, said Mr Thomas Chandy, head of Save the Children in India.
'Although the schemes are there and the intention and allocation of resources are there, in many places, they are not reaching out to people,' he added.
'Every child, no matter where or to whom they are born, has an equal right and deserves an equal chance to survive. And every one of us has a moral responsibility to act and act now.'
The report, gathered from research in 14 countries, calculated that globally two million children die each year within 24 hours of birth.
India's child mortality statistics are particularly stark, with 72 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2007, higher than in neighbouring countries such as Bangladesh. Bangladesh lowered its child mortality rate from 151 in 1990 to 61 in 2007.
Major causes of death in the first years of life include malnutrition, pneumonia and diarrhoea - afflictions that are cheap and easy to cure.
'I've had four children, but I lost my second child when he was just two days old,' Ms Mewa, a 25-year-old mother who has tuberculosis and lives in Ajmer in Rajasthan, told Save the Children.
'I don't know why my son passed away. He wasn't even ill. I guess if I could know one thing, I'd like to know what treatments there are that I could use for my children. That's all.'
Low-cost solutions could reduce neonatal mortality by up to 70 per cent, but public reluctance to fund increased health costs has stopped the Indian government from taking action, the report's authors concluded.
'Change is indeed possible. If people understood how affordable and feasible it is to prevent children dying, they would be shocked,' said Mr Chandy.
India has clocked a decade of rapid economic growth that has allowed it to boost spending on poor and rural communities, but Save the Children said most of such programmes have not benefited those who are most in need.
More than half of all Indian women give birth without the help of skilled health-care professionals, leading to infections and complications. In far-flung areas, doctors and hospitals are rare and villagers often put the health of their children in the hands of poorly trained substitutes.
Mr Chandy said poverty was only one factor in the high number of newborn deaths. 'Some local cultural practices are not helping,' he said, citing tribal groups that refuse to breastfeed their babies after birth.
About US$40 billion (S$57 billion) could significantly reduce child deaths worldwide through improved home care, breastfeeding and immunisation, according to the Giving Every Child the Chance to Survive report.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu backed the call for action, decrying the 'sad reality that young children, especially in developing countries, continue to die from preventable diseases, while governments spend large amounts of money on weapons of mass destruction'.
The report added that India was set to miss its Millennium Development goal of reducing under-five mortality by two-thirds by 2015 - but pointed out that other countries such as Nepal, Peru and the Philippines were on target.
'Clearly a lot needs to be done,' Indian Health Secretary Sujata Rao told the Indian Express after the report was released. 'We have to use the existing resources and focus on specific states.'More than 15,000 people were surveyed for the research data, which was collected in August and last month from countries ranging from India to Britain, Italy, China and Kenya.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
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