A report by UNICEF has revealed that Indian women are not keeping right gap between their children. The report states that it has been seen that generally an Indian woman gives birth to her second child with 31 months of delivering her first child, which severely endangers the health of mothers and decreases the children's chances of survival.

According to UNICEF, the figures of maternal and infantile mortality are shocking and the figures are unchanged over last 17 years.

UNICEF has advised that a woman should keep a gap of minimum 3 years between her two Childs; if the proper gap is not maintained, it poses a danger to the life of a mother, to the growth of foetus, and increases the risk of premature delivery.

UNICEF's `State of the World's Children 2009' report articulates that the right gap between two consecutive Childs in Bangladesh should be 39 months, in Indonesia should be 54 months, in Nepal should be 34 months and in Vietnam should be 47 months.

"It takes at least two years for a woman's body to recover from childbirth. Since nearly 52% of women in India are anaemic, a woman has to let her body replenish lost nutrients and the blood that she loses during delivery," said Aparajita Gogoi, national coordinator of the White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood in India, speaking to TOI.

"Since a mother breastfeeds her child for two years, a second child within 30 months would hamper nutrition intake of the second child," she cautioned.

According to UNICEF, the proper gaping depends a lot on the right usage of contraceptives, there are oral contraceptives or condoms available for women, but in India, contraceptives are more focused on males.

India's recent district-level household survey (DLHS 3) has shown that about 34% Delhiites responded that they do not give importance to family planning; 21.9% accepted that they used condoms while having sex; and 1.4% women admitted that they used emergency contraceptive pills.

UNICEF report also highlights the social evil of child marriage. The report says that child marriage is one of the main causes of India's maternal and infantile deaths. It states that girls who deliver babies before 15 are five times more likely to die during childbirth than the women who deliver babies in their 20s. It also says that an under 18 mother's child faces 60% more risk of dying in its first year of life than a child born to mother older than 19.

UNICEF's Karin Hulshof said, "More than 40% of the world's child marriages take place in India. Worldwide, more than 60 million women between 20-24 were married before they were 18. Child brides become mothers much before their bodies are physically mature for pregnancy."