Babies with low birth weight: trends in world, India | Explained News, The Indian Express

Babies with low birth weight: trends in world, India | Explained News, The Indian Express

Written by Anuradha Mascarenhas |Pune |Updated: May 16, 2019 9:31:46 am

Babies with low birth weight: trends in world, India

In 2011, The Indian Statistical Institute had reported that nearly 20% of newborns have low birth weight in India. At the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, officials said the prevalence of low birth weight was between 15% and 20%.

India has made progress in improving newborn care by building 834 newborn care units in the last decade, LSHTM officials said. (Source: Getty Images)

In the largest such international study, researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), UNICEF and the World Health Organisation (WHO) have found that one in every seven babies were born with low birth weight in 2015. The study was published online Wednesday in The Lancet Global Health.