Buy essay on Infant/child mortality

Infant/child mortality rate is one of the most important indicators of living standards and social situation in the country. Infant mortality rate is defined as the number of infant deaths (one year of age or younger) per 1000 live births. Child mortality rate includes deaths within the first five years after birth.
In the 19th century number of deaths was between 200 and 300 per 1000 births
Factors which affected child mortality earlier:
 Weather
 Harvest
 Epidemics
 Wars
In 20th century and tin the beginning of 21st century medicine, culture and social order have significantly progressed. Infant and child mortality rates have decreased; however, there are disparities. Infant mortality has decreased everywhere since 1900, but for developed countries the decrease has been more significant. Fig. 1, 2 and Table 1 illustrate this.
Figure 1. Percentage of child mortality for different regions of the world (%) (You & Wardlaw & Salama & Jones, 2009)
Region 1990 1995 2000 2005 2007 2008
AFRICA 168 165 152 139 134 132
Sub-Saharan Africa 184 180 166 152 147 144
Eastern and Southern Africa 167 162 147 130 123 120
West and Central Africa 206 202 188 176 171 169
Middle East and North Africa 77 66 56 47 44 43
ASIA 87 82 71 60 56 54
South Asia 124 111 99 83 78 76
East Asia and Pacific 54 49 41 32 29 28
Latin America and Caribbean 52 43 33 26 24 23
CEE/CIS 51 49 37 27 24 23
Industrialized countries 10 8 7 6 6 6
Developing countries 99 95 86 77 73 72
Least developed countries 179 168 150 136 131 129
WORLD 90 87 78 70 66 65
Table 1. Child mortality rate (per 1000 births)
(You & Wardlaw & Salama & Jones, 2009)

Figure 2. Child mortality rates by types of countries
The disparities related to income level are shown on Fig. 3.

Figure 3. Correlation of per capita income and Infant Mortality (CIA World Factbook)
The causes of child deaths in developing and developed countries are different. Main disparities in the developing countries are due to educational level, poverty, availability of resources, medical care, etc. Factors that affect child mortality in developing countries:
Social factors
 Violence
 Refugee camps
 Extreme poverty
 Homelessness
 Large families
 Low level of female education
 Young age of mothers
 Lack of awareness about family planning and health
Medical factors
 High level of HIV/AIDS
 Spreading of infectious diseases (respiratory infections, malaria, diarrhea, measles)
 Insufficient health care
Environmental factors
 Insufficient water supply
 Problems of sanitation
Developed countries (the U.S. in particular):
In developed countries, including the U.S., child mortality has very significantly decreased during 20th century. Main disparities in the U.S.: racial and poverty disparities. . Factors that affect child mortality in developed countries:
Medical factors
 Birth defects
 High-risk pregnancy
 Obesity
 Poverty
Social factors
 Lack of insurance
 Racial and ethnic disparity
In the United States, child mortality is 630 per 100,000 live births or 6.3 per 1000 live births. Figure 4 illustrates causes of child mortality in the U.S.

Figure 4. Causes of child mortality in the U.S. (CDC)
Therefore, to address child mortality in developing countries, it is necessary to pay attention to educational, social and health care factors, while in the U.S. main factors influencing child mortality are racial factors, insurance and income level.
Sources
1. CIA World Factbook. www.cia.gov, accessed at March 22, 2010.
2. CDC (2009-11). Behind International Rankings of Infant Mortality: How the United States Compares with Europe. Centers for Disease Control.
3. D. You, T. Wardlaw, P. Salama, G. Jones. Levels and trends in under-5 mortality, 1990–2008, The Lancet, 2009