Infant and child mortality

Major compendia of statistics from those surveys are found in the cross-national comparative reports prepared by one of the authors of this report (Rutstein, 1983; 1984). The current report provides another set of childhood mortality statistics for the 28 countries which participated in Phase I of the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) program. Section 1 of this report describes the methodology used to collect mortality data in DHS surveys and to calculate mortality rates from the data. Section 2 presents statistics on the level of mortality for the period immediately preceding the surveys and on trends in mortality levels. Section 3 presents mortality differentials in terms of the demographic characteristics of children and mothers. Section 4 presents differentials in terms of the socioeconomic characteristics of households. Section 5 summarizes the results of this analysis. While the primary objective of this report is to provide a reference set of childhood mortality statistics to policymakers, program managers, and researchers, it is hoped that its usefulness will extend beyond being a descriptive document. The report highlights factors that promote child survival as well as factors that are detrimental to it. Accordingly, the analysis may be helpful for identifying promising directions for health programs and for advancing the worldwide child survival effort. (Author abstract)