Infant and Child Mortality in Eastern Africa: Causes and Differentials - A Review of the Literature

14 Pages Posted: 14 May 2007 Last revised: 28 Oct 2008

See all articles by Stephen Kaduuli

Stephen Kaduuli

Citizens for Public Justice; York University

Date Written: November 1, 1988

Abstract

Infant mortality refers to the death of a child born alive before its first birthday and child mortality is the death of a child aged between one and five years.

Demographers have for a long time been interested in the study of mortality which is one of the components of population change. Infant and child mortality are among the best indicators of socio-economic development because a society's life expectancy at birth is determined by the survival chances of infants and children.

This paper reviews the literature of infant and child mortality in Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, and Tanzania, countries, which, for purposes of this discussion, constitute Eastern Africa. In this part of the world, as many as 200 of every a thousand live born infants die before their first birthdays. Apart from Kenya, all the above mentioned countries have infant mortalities ranging between 100 and 200 deaths per thousand live births. Even though infant and child mortality have declined in the region since the 1960's, they are still unquestionably high and have for various reasons stagnated in their decline.

Keywords: Infant mortality, Child mortality, Eastern Africa, Maternal education, Diarrhea, Disease

JEL Classification: I00, I3, J13

Suggested Citation

Kaduuli, Stephen Charles, Infant and Child Mortality in Eastern Africa: Causes and Differentials - A Review of the Literature (November 1, 1988). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=986181 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.986181

Stephen Charles Kaduuli (Contact Author)

Citizens for Public Justice ( email )

334 MacLaren Street - Suite 200
Ottawa, Ontario K2P 0M6

York University ( email )

4700 Keele St.
York Lanes
Toronto, Ontario M3J 1P3
Canada

HOME PAGE: http://www.yorku.ca

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
1,169
Abstract Views
7,397
Rank
33,647
PlumX Metrics