The Government and UNICEF officially commissioned a new water supply scheme in the Ampara district.

THRISSUR: A two-day state-level workshop on the 7th Millennium Development Goal (MDG-7) - water quality and sanitation service delivery - will begin here on December 7.

C Shivakumar | ENS

India has about 48 per cent of undernourished children below five years, the largest in the world, according to a Unicef survey.

The survey says India has an estimated 61 million stunted children, accounting for every three out of 10 stunted children in the developing world.

Around 5,000 children under the age of five die in India every day, according to a latest Unicef report. With malnutrition rates continuing to be high, 96 per cent of children who die belong to the scheduled tribes, 88 per cent to scheduled castes and 59 to general population.

Despite an improvement in child mortality figures, 5,000 children under the age of five die in India everyday due to preventable causes, according to the latest Unicef report

There has been no reduction in neonatal mortality rate figures in the country since 2003. From the 2002 figures, when 37.1 babies in a thousand died within the first 28 days of their life, the figure has remained static at 36 from 2003 to 2007.

These are also the last available figures, said experts at a seminar on

Despite efforts by the government to arrest the alarming maternal mortality rate (MMR) in India, progress has been very slow in the past few years. Outlook has now learnt the government is considering taking a leaf out of Bangladesh

Diarrhoea is a major killer in India claiming the lives of about 1,000 children below five years of age everyday.

Worldwide diarrhoeal diseases and acute respiratory infections are responsible for the deaths of more than 3.5 million children below five years of age each year.

Documentary and monograph to be brought out soon.

Thrissur: The UNICEF plans to bring out a documentary and monograph on urban community-managed water governance schemes in Thrissur.

The embankments by the rivers of Rupsha and Shibsa are swarmed with temporary shelters housing the people affected by Cyclone Aila. Blue and orange plastic sheeting over their shabby make-shift huts can be seen from miles away while people sit idle waiting for the water to recede.