INFANT MORTALITY
Image 1. Picture of an infant.
Infant Mortality rate refers to the number of deaths of infants under one year old in a given year per 1,000 live births or the probability of dying between birth and exactly one year of age expressed per 1,000 live births. Infant Mortality rate can be derived from dividing the number of children dying under one year old by the number of live births during the year multiplied by 1000.
Table showing infant mortality rates for India during the period 2000 - 2012
| Country | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| India | 64.9 | 63.19 | 61.47 | 59.59 | 57.92 | 56.29 | 54.63 | 34.61 | 32.31 | 30.15 | 49.13 | 47.57 | 46.07 |
The data on the table indicates that the rate of infant mortality have significantly decreased in the twelve year period. However the level is still high especially in the rural areas of India.
POVERTY
"Poverty is defined in either
relative or absolute terms. Absolute poverty measures poverty in relation to the amount of
money necessary to meet basic needs such as food, clothing, and shelter. The
concept of absolute poverty is not concerned with broader quality of life issues or with the overall level of
inequality in society. The concept therefore fails to recognise that
individuals have important social and cultural needs. This, and similar
criticisms, led to the development of the concept of relative poverty.
Relative poverty defines poverty in relation to the
economic status of other members of the society: people are poor if they fall
below prevailing standards of living in a given societal context. An important
criticism of both concepts is that they are largely concerned with income and
consumption." UNESCO
Below is a map of the world. The world consists of seven
continents of which Asia is one of them.
Map 1. Map of the world, 2013.
The second map below is Asia. Asia is divided into five regions.
Map 2. Map of Asia, 2013.
This blog will focus on the southern region of Asia (South Asia), more specifically......
Map 3. Map of the South Asia.
...................INDIA
Map 4. Map of India, 2013.
India has one of the highest Infant Mortality Rates in the world. According to the CIA World Factbook India is ranked 50 in Infant Mortality with a rate of 46.07. Haiti is the only country in the Caribbean that surpasses India's Infant mortality rate with a rate of 52.44.
Map 5. Poverty map of India, 2009-2010
Map 6. This map was generated using data from the Government of India data portal by Subhadeep Khan. Infant Mortality Rate India 2011
Map 5 and 6 when compared illustrates a correlation between poverty and infant mortality in India.
According to State-wise infant mortality(data.gov) Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh. Odisha, Assam, Meghalaya, and Chhatisgarh have the highest Infant Mortality rates in India (between 50-62 deaths per 1000) States such as Kerala, Goa, Manipur, Chandigarh and Puducherry have the lowest infant mortality rates. When the geographic areas in map 6 are compared to the geographic areas in map 5 it is seen that the states with high infant mortality rates also have a high level of poverty except Maghalaya. The areas with low infant mortality rates also have a low level of poverty except for Manipur.
According to State-wise infant mortality(data.gov) Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh. Odisha, Assam, Meghalaya, and Chhatisgarh have the highest Infant Mortality rates in India (between 50-62 deaths per 1000) States such as Kerala, Goa, Manipur, Chandigarh and Puducherry have the lowest infant mortality rates. When the geographic areas in map 6 are compared to the geographic areas in map 5 it is seen that the states with high infant mortality rates also have a high level of poverty except Maghalaya. The areas with low infant mortality rates also have a low level of poverty except for Manipur.
CAUSES OF INFANT MORTALITY
In India the main cause of infant mortality can be linked to poverty. Poverty can be seen as the root of its causes, some sub-reasons that are a result of infant mortality are the inability to afford proper health care, lack of education, accessibility, environmental issues such as poor sanitation conditions.
“Vast bodies of empirical studies have focused on analysing the determinants of infant mortality in India, and elsewhere in the world. Household incomes, female education, access to health services and immunizations have been the key determinants of infant mortality. This indicates that public policies which promote access to schools, better health facilities and encourage economic growth can help reduce infant mortality. Other environmental factors like electricity, access to safe drinking water and sanitation and use of cooking fuels all have been found to have important health implications on infants. There are multiple factors that go into determining whether a young infant will survive in his/her early years. During pregnancy and after, external factors like family, the situation and practices of the household, the norms of the community can influence both mother and the infant. “ (Kapoor, Shruti 2010)
“Vast bodies of empirical studies have focused on analysing the determinants of infant mortality in India, and elsewhere in the world. Household incomes, female education, access to health services and immunizations have been the key determinants of infant mortality. This indicates that public policies which promote access to schools, better health facilities and encourage economic growth can help reduce infant mortality. Other environmental factors like electricity, access to safe drinking water and sanitation and use of cooking fuels all have been found to have important health implications on infants. There are multiple factors that go into determining whether a young infant will survive in his/her early years. During pregnancy and after, external factors like family, the situation and practices of the household, the norms of the community can influence both mother and the infant. “ (Kapoor, Shruti 2010)
SOLUTIONS
According
to a report by the Center of Disease Control and Prevention, one major solution
to high infant mortality rates is good preconception health care. If women provide
a more healthy life there would be a lower infant mortality rate. Good
preconception health care entails women having healthier diets, being physically active and preventing detrimental activities such as smoking and ingestion of other harmful substances. In India, poverty levels are vast and thus the women
are sometimes unable to maintain healthy diets and livelihood. Hence, it is the
duty of the government, and to some extent the women themselves to provide
avenues to improve health care and mitigate this high mortality rate in India.
In addition, the establishment of health care programs and agencies would significantly aid in reducing the high infant
mortality rates as these programs can educate and inform the women on improving
health. According to a journal entitled “A community based approach to improve health
care seeking for newborn danger signs in rural Wardha, India,” women are showing a greater knowledge in
the newborn danger signs as they are being informed by private health care providers. This
awareness of pregnancy-related issues causes the women to be more alert and
concerned about their newborns, thus they themselves seek aid in ensuring that their child is healthy. Another journal entitled “Towards achievement of universal health care
in India by 2020: a call to action,” (2011) stated that the creation of an Integrated National Health System through
the provision of universal health insurance, establishment of autonomous
organizations to enable accountable and evidence-based good-quality health-care practices
and development of appropriately trained human resources, can result in an improved health care system throughout India and thus decrease the infant mortality rate.
IN THE CARIBBEAN
The Caribbean like India is known as a region where infant mortality is seen as overwhelming in comparison to the amount of people living in the Caribbean. Although India may show a much higher mortality rate due to the fact that it is larger therefore accommodating more citizens, the infant mortality rate in the Caribbean has to be addressed with great concern. India and the Caribbean host a number of similar causes for its rates in infant mortality these factors being poor maternal health, disparities inhibiting access to skilled birthing professionals, lack of primary health care access, and a low emphasis on newborn health at the national level. These factors have influence the level of infant mortality rate both within India and the Caribbean and are seen as issues that the UN are attempting to address. For instance a small island such as Haiti has indicated that it's infant mortality rate of 56% is quite a high percentage for a island of its nature. In comparison to a country with a larger surface area such as India with a high infant mortality rate, Haiti would probably be seen on the same level if the population of the two were the same.
AUTHORS: Christopher Bascombe, Dillon Basdeo, Judah Jessop, Keisha Bissoon, Satyavati Phang
References
- Map of the World. World Map [map]. Last updated 8th March, 2013. <http://www.mapsofworld.com/> (accessed November 19 2013)
- Asia map. Asia [map]. Created on 18th January 2013. <http://www.mapsofworld.com/asia/> (accessed November 19 2013)
- Map of South Asia Area Pictures. Political Map of South Asia [map]. <http://mapofasia.blogspot.com/> (accessed November 19 2013)
- India map. India [map]. Last updated 29th April, 2013. <http://www.mapsofworld.com/india/> (accessed November 19 2013)
- Hing Ah. Baby photo studio Maternity+Newborn [picture]. Created on 06/29/2013 8:52. <http://ahhingbaby.com/?q=node/118> (accessed on November 19 2013)
- India Poverty map 2009-10 [map]. Last updated March 21, 2012. <http://www.mapsofindia.com/maps/india/poverty.html> (accessed on November 20 2013)
- Paul, Subhadeep. Infant mortality rate in India: State Wise heatmap. Infant mortality state wise heatmap [map]. Posted on July 17 2013. <http://publish.illinois.edu/subhadeep/2013/07/17/infant-mortality-rate-in-india-state-wise-heatmap/> (accessed on November 20 2013)
- "Country Comparison > Infant mortality rate." Infant mortality rate. http://www.indexmundi.com/g/r.aspx?v=29 (accessed November 20, 2013).
- "Poverty | United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization." Poverty | United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. http://www.unesco.org/new/en/social-and-human-sciences/themes/international-migration/glossary/poverty/ (accessed November 18, 2013).
