PATNA, June 20 -- At 26, Bihar has been able to catch up with the national average of infant mortality rate (IMR), but ranks eighth highest in the country among 37 states and Union territories, as per the Sample Registration System (SRS) data for 2022, released on June 12 this year, said officials. The improved IMR, which is the number of deaths of infants under one year of age per 1,000 live births in a given period, is a pointer to better medical facilities available for newborns and higher number of institutional deliveries in the state, said officials. Bihar's IMR, which was 44 in 2011, the same as India, showed a very slow decline to 42 in 2015 (India's average was 37), having been constant for the previous two years (2013 & 2014). The first significant drop was in 2016, when the state recorded an IMR of 38, a drop by 4 points as compared to the previous year, the SRS data revealed. The IMR progressively dropped by three points each year for the next three years till 2019, when it reached 29, against India's 30. The graph continued neck and neck with Bihar recording an IMR of 27 in 2020 and 2021, when the national average was 28 and 27, respectively. The drop was due to improved health facilities in terms of establishing 45 special newborn care units (SNCUs), with radiant warmers (earlier there were incubators), phototherapy unit for management of jaundice and C-pap (continuous positive airway pressure) machines, across all district hospitals and most medical colleges, barring a couple, said state health officials. "We were able to improve the functionality of SNCUs through training of manpower and special monitoring at regular intervals at the level of the additional chief secretary, health," said a senior health officer. "Besides, introduction of newer vaccines like rotavirus for management of diarrhoea and measles rubella (MR), making available zinc and ORS (oral rehydration solution) door-to-door through campaigns like intensified diarrhoea control fortnight, and improved awareness level helped in reducing the IMR," the officer added. Our target is to reduce the neonatal mortality rate (NMR), which is the number of deaths of infants under 28 days of age per 1,000 live births in a given period. If the state's NMR, which is at 19, similar to the national average, goes down, the IMR will automatically go down. Data shows that almost 66% of infant deaths are reported during the initial 28-day period of birth. So, if NMR is checked, the IMR will automatically be reduced, the officer added....