Infant mortality has traditionally been viewed as an indicator of the social and economic well-being of a society. It reflects not only the magnitude of those health problems which are directly responsible for the death of infants, such as diarrhoea and respiratory infections and malnutrition, but the net effect of a multitude of other factors, including prenatal and postnatal care of mother and infant, and the environmental conditions to which the infant is exposed.
Infant and child mortality is the best indicator to examine the health status of the children in a society. It is also an important index to evaluate the socio-economic development. High level of infant and child mortality means poor government policies for improving the nations health and discourages the socio-economic development.
This indicates the poor health status of its nation and becomes a big challenge for demographers, policy makers and politicians to introduce such a program to reduce the health problems particularly in the field of infant mortality and morbidity.
The unhealthy facilities in Pakistan by the public sector and private sector have adverse effects on the quality of life. This has not only affected the health of a population but also their productivity and contribution in economic growth.
So not only diseases but cultural factors are also an important indicator to define the health status of a population. Neonatal mortality is responsible for a high proportion of deaths under age one and is particularly high for first order births and children born to very young or very old mothers.
It is also related to these factors and also to a shorter preceding birth interval. Education of mother and residence were also found to be critical determinants of infant and child mortality.
Mortality studies in developing countries are often related to the level of economic development of the nations, or have examined mortality differentials by socio-demographic and environmental factors, both at aggregate and individual levels within a nation.
Study on infant mortality in Pakistan has been extremely limited primarily due to lack of vital registration data necessary for the estimation of levels, trends and differentials in mortality.
SADIA ZAHEER
Lahore
