Essay on the Important of the Study of Infant Mortality

The study of infant mortality gains importance, especially because mortality during the first year of life is invariably high for all countries, irrespective of whether the overall levels of mortality are high or low.

The trends in infant mortality rates for some selected countries are presented in Table 7.3 at three points of time, that is 1935- 1939, 1964 and the most recent year for which this information is available in the 1980s.

It may be observed that infant mortality rates in various countries vary tremendously. At one end are countries like India (71 in 1997), and Pakistan (100 in 1983), with very high infant mortality rates, while, at the other end, are countries like Sweden (4.8 in 1993) and Japan (4.5 in 1992) with very low infant mortality rates. Sweden and Japan have the lowest infant mortality rates in the world.

It is interesting to note that infant mortality rates for some Eastern European countries are quite high sometimes even higher than those of some developing countries. Illustrations are provided by Yugoslavia (18.4 in 1992), Romania (23.7 in 1994) and Hungary (11.5 in 1994).

Even among developing countries, these rates are found to vary considerably. Small countries like Hong Kong (4.8 in 1992), and Singapore (4.0 in 1997) have somewhat low infant mortality rates, which compare very favourably with those of developed countries.

Sample surveys carried out in Africa in the late 1950s and the early 1960s have revealed that infant mortality rates above 200 were quite common in that part of the world.

The infant mortality rates in industrialised countries were around 200 or even more some 150 years ago. In the 1870e, these rates in European countries ranged between 100 in Norway and 300 in Germany.

Even at the beginning of the twentieth century, infant mortality rates in Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary, Japan, Spein and Portugal were more than 150 per 1,000 live births.

From 1906- 1910 to 1960-1964, infant mortality rates in developed countries declined on an average by 14 to 16 per cent per year. A spectacular fall in this rate was observed in the Russia, where it declined from 269 in 1913 to 182 in 1940-44 and to 29 in 1964-11.

Another noteworthy example is that of Japan, where this rate declined from 110.4 in 1935-39 to 20.4 in 1964, a decline of about 82 per cent in 25-29 years.

The trends in infant mortality rates of some developing countries, having relatively good statistics, indicate that declines in these rates have been very striking.

Singapore which had an infant mortality rate of 152 in 1935-1939, brought it down to 29 in 1964 and 7.0 in 1988, a reduction of 95.4 per cent during a period of 49.53 years.

Declines of 60 per cent or more were also recorded in Sri Lanka, West Malaysia, Mauritius, Puerto Rico, Trinidad and Tobago. Hong Kong recorded a decline from 100.4 in 1945-1949 to 7.4 in 1988.

The trends in infant mortality rates of developed and developing countries indicate that some overlapping of these rates has occurred between these two regions.

This phenomenon has raised an important issue regarding the utility of infant mortality rate as an indicator of social and economic development.

As has been earlier observed, several countries, where infant mortality rates are similar to those of developed countries, have not registered any remarkable progress in social and economic development.

On the other hand, it has been pointed out by the United Nations that, under the prevailing conditions in Scandinavian countries, further declines in infant mortality rates would be difficult to achieve without some new or revolutionary medical discoveries.