INFANT MORTALITY

Infant Mortality

Infant Mortality

Introduction

Infant Mortality is the term used for the incidence when a new born baby faces death within the first five years of birth. Infant Mortality is categorized into two broad categories: neonatal deaths (death occurring after the birth within 27 days) and post neonatal deaths (occurring after the first 28 days of birth till one year). Infant Mortality is one of the variables used to judge the general health level of a society. A high-mortality rate shows poor health condition of the population and lack of care of new born babies.

Most of the less developed countries and regions including different regions of Latin America have suffered from high infant mortality rate. Poor living and health standards have led to a very bad situation in some regions of Latin America. Due to poor living standard, people do not take required nutritional diet which increases the probability of being affected by different diseases. New born babies are very vulnerable to different diseases including cholera, measles and cough. It is often observed that underdeveloped regions face this problem because they will have to deal with sanitation problems, personal hygiene and poor health services.

The problem of infant mortality has become a serious issue for policy makers. According to the U.S Census Bureau, infant mortality rate of America is 6.43 per 1000, ranking it forty third among all the countries. The infant mortality rate in Singapore is 2 per 1000. High infant mortality in low-income groups of America is the main cause of high mortality rate in America.

Causes of infant mortality

A number of factors have been determined that is causing high-infant mortality in America. It is mostly associated with poor health conditions and standard of living. The infant mortality is also affected by external factors. Poverty, inadequate parental care, high rate of teenage pregnancies, ...