Child health has improved tremendously in recent decades. India’s national under-5 mortality rate declined from 111 per 1,000 live births in 1990 to 39 per 1,000 lives births in 2018. India continues her steady march towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals related to maternal and child mortality.
In early 2020, The International Vaccine Access Center (IVAC) at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health launched a new partnership with several Indian institutions with support from the Pradip and Kumkum Ghosh Family Foundation. The Johns Hopkins Maternal and Child Health Center was established to improve public health capacity in maternal and child health in West Bengal and in India.
The new center focuses on enhancing women’s health, saving newborn lives, ensuring quality care, addressing vaccine-preventable diseases, meeting the needs of children who live in urban and rural areas that are marginalized and hard to reach, and strengthening public health capacity in India.
The program’s priority areas for research, courses, and additional learning opportunities will be identified through consultation with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of West Bengal, and key partners and stakeholders in West Bengal and India.