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Infant mortality is the death of a child less than one year of age. Childhood mortality is the death of a child before the child's fifth birthday. National statistics tend to group these two mortality rates together. Globally, ten million infants and children die each year before their fifth birthday; 99% of these deaths occur in developing nations. Infant mortality takes away society’s potential physical, social, and human capital.

Generally the most common cause worldwide has been dehydration from diarrhea, a preventable disease; however, a variety of programs combating this problem have decreased the rate of children dying from dehydration. Many factors contribute to infant mortality such as the mother’s level of education, environmental conditions, and political and medical infrastructure. Improving sanitation, access to clean drinking water, immunization against infectious diseases, and other public health measures could help reduce high rates of infant mortality. The U.S. National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD) has made great strides in lowering U.S. infant mortality rates.^[2] Since the institute was created the U.S. infant mortality rate has dropped 70%, in part due to their research.

Infant mortality rate

Infant mortality rate (IMR) is the number of deaths of children less than one year of age per 1000 live births. The rate for a given region is the number of children dying under one year of age, divided by the number of live births during the year, multiplied by 1,000.^[3]

Forms of infant mortality:

Neonatal mortality is newborn death occurring within 28 days postpartum. Neonatal death is often attributed to inadequate access to basic medical care, during pregnancy and after delivery. This accounts for 40–60% of infant mortality in developing countries.^[4]
Postneonatal mortality is the death of children aged 29 days to one year. The major contributors to postneonatal death are malnutrition, infectious disease, and problems with the home environment.
Perinatal mortality is late fetal death (22 weeks gestation to birth), or death of a newborn up to one week postpartum.^[3]

Causes

Some causes of congenital infant mortality are malformations, sudden infant death syndrome, maternal complications during pregnancy, and accidents and unintentional injuries.^[5] Environmental and social barriers prevent access to basic medical resources and thus contribute to an increasing infant mortality rate; 99% of infant deaths occur in developing countries, and 86% of these deaths are due to infections, premature births, complications during delivery, and perinatal asphyxia and birth injuries.^[3] Greatest percentage reduction of infant mortality occurs in countries that already have low rates of infant mortality.^[6] Common causes are preventable with low-cost measures. In the United States a primary determinant of infant mortality risk is infant birth weight with lower birth weights increasing the risk of infant mortality. The determinants of low birth weight include socio-economic, psychological, behaviorial and environmental factors.^[7]

Medical

Low birth weight makes up 60–80% of the infant mortality rate in developing countries. The New England Journal of Medicine stated that “The lowest mortality rates occur among infants weighing 3000 to 3500 g. For infants born weighing 2500 g or less, the mortality rate rapidly increases with decreasing weight, and most of the infants weighing 1000 g or less die. As compared with normal-birth-weight infants, those with low weight at birth are almost 40 times more likely to die in the neonatal period; for infants with very low weight at birth the relative risk of neonatal death is almost 200 times greater.” Infant mortality due to low birth weight is usually a direct cause stemming from other medical complications such as preterm birth, poor maternal nutritional status, lack of prenatal care, maternal sickness during pregnancy, and an unhygienic home environments.^[3] Along with birth weight, period of gestation makes up the two most important predictors of and infant's chances of survival and their overall health.^[8]

According to the New England Journal of Medicine “in the past two decades, the infant mortality rate (deaths under one year of age per thousand live births) in the United States has declined sharply.” Low birth weights from African American mothers remain twice as high as that of white women. LBW may be the leading cause of infant deaths, and it is greatly preventable. Although it is preventable, the solutions may not be the easiest but effective programs to help prevent LBW are a combination of health care, education, environment, mental modification and public policy, influencing a culture supporting lifestyle. ^[9] Preterm birth is the leading cause of newborn deaths worldwide.^[10] Even though America excels past many other countries in the care and saving of premature infants, the percentage of American woman who deliver prematurely is comparable to those in developing countries. Reasons for this include teenage pregnancy, increase in pregnant mothers over the age of thirty five, increase in the use of in-vitro fertilization which increases the risk of multiple births, obesity and diabetes. Also, women who do not have access to health care are less likely to visit a doctor, therefore increasing their risk of delivering prematurely.^[11]

Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) is a significant cause of thousands of infant deaths per year. According to the Mayo Clinic SIDS is the unexplained death, usually during sleep, of a seemingly healthy baby. Although the direct cause of SIDS remains unknown, many doctors believe that there are several factors that put babies at an increased risk of SIDS. Some of these factors include babies sleeping on their stomach, exposure to cigarette smoke in the womb or after birth, sleeping in bed with parents, premature birth, being a twin or triplet, being born to a teen mother, and also living in poverty settings. Although the cause is unknown and cannot be unexplained, doctors have come to the conclusion that SIDS is most likely to occur between 2 and 4 months and most deaths occur in the winter time. Some precautions that parents may take include making sure baby sleeps on its back, put them to bed in a crib, allow them to sleep in the same room but not the same bed, make sure room temperature isn't too hot, and breastfeed if possible because it reduces upper respiratory infections that influence SIDS. The Mayo Clinic also offers some ways to prevent SIDS"“perhaps the most important way to reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome is to place your baby on his or her back to sleep, on a firm crib mattress covered by a fitted sheet. Nothing else should go in the crib with your baby — no blanket, pillow, bumper pads or toys.”^[12]

Malnutrition frequently accompanies these diseases, and is a primary factor contributing to the complications of both diarrhea and pneumonia, although the causal links and mechanisms remain unclear. Other factors than the nutritional status of infants and children influence the incidence of diarrhea, including socioeconomic status, disruption of traditional lifestyles, accessibility to clean water and sanitation facilities, age and their breast-feeding status.

Protein energy malnutrition and micronutrient deficiency are two reasons for stunted growth for children under five years old in the least developed countries. Malnutrition leads to diarrhea and dehydration, and ultimately death. Millions of women in developing countries are stunted due to a history of childhood malnutrition. Women’s bodies are thus underdeveloped, and chances of withstanding giving birth decreases. Due to underdeveloped bodies, the probability of having an obstructed pregnancy increases. Protein-energy deficiency results in low-quality breast milk that is not as caloric and nutritious.^[3]

Vitamin A deficiency can lead to stunted growth, blindness, and increased mortality due to the lack of nutrients in the body. Two hundred and fifty million infants are affected by Vitamin A deficiency. Out of the women in developing countries, 40% have iron deficiency anemia. Iron deficiency anemia increases maternal and infant mortality rates, chances of stillbirth, cases of low birth weight babies, premature delivery, and probability of fetal brain damage.^[3] One way to prevent Vitamin A Deficiency from occurring is to educate the mother on the many benefits of breastfeeding. Breast milk is a natural producer of Vitamin A, therefore supplying the infant with sufficient amounts of Vitamin A while at breastfeeding age.^[13]

Seven out of ten childhood deaths are due to infectious diseases- acute respiratory infection, diarrhea, measles, and malaria. Acute respiratory infection such as pneumonia, bronchitis, and bronchiolitis account for 30% of childhood deaths; 95% of pneumonia cases occur in the developing world. Diarrhea is the second largest cause of childhood mortality in the world, while malaria causes 11% of childhood deaths. Measles is the fifth largest cause of childhood mortality.^[3]^[14] Folic acid for mothers is one way to combat iron deficiency. A few public health measures used to lower levels of iron deficiency anemia include iodize salt or drinking water, and include vitamin A and multivitamin supplements into a mother’s diet.^[3] A deficiency of this vitamin causes certain types of anemia (low red blood cell count).^[15]

Environmental

Infant mortality rate can be a measure of a nation's health and social condition.^[8]^[16] It is a composite of a number of component rates which have their separate relationship with various social factors and can often be seen as an indicator to measure the level of socioeconomic disparity within a country.^[16]

Organic water pollution is a better indicator of infant mortality than health expenditures per capita. Water contaminated with various pathogens house a host of parasitic and microbial infections. Infectious disease and parasites are carried via water pollution from animal wastes.^[17] Areas of low socioeconomic status are more prone to inadequate plumbing infrastructure, and poorly maintained facilities.^[3] The burning of inefficient fuels doubles the rate of children under 5 years old with acute respiratory tract infections.^[3] Climate and geography often play a role in sanitation conditions. For example, the inaccessibility of clean water exacerbates poor sanitation conditions.^[17]

People who live in areas where particulate matter (PM) air pollution is higher tend to have more health problems across the board. Short term and long term effects of ambient air pollution are associated with an increased mortality rate, including infant mortality. Air pollution is consistently associated with post neonatal mortality due to respiratory effects and sudden infant death syndrome. Specifically, air pollution is highly associated with SIDs in the United States during the post-neonatal stage.^[18] High infant mortality is exacerbated because newborns are a vulnerable subgroup that is affected by air pollution.^[19] Newborns who were born into these environments are no exception. Women who are exposed to greater air pollution on a daily basis who are pregnant should be closely watched by their doctors, as well as after the baby is born. Babies who live in areas with less air pollution have a greater chance of living until their first birthday. As expected, babies who live in environments with more air pollution are at greater risk for infant mortality. Areas that have higher air pollution also have a greater chance of having a higher population density, higher crime rates and lower income levels, all of which can lead to higher infant mortality rates.^[20]

The three key pollutants for infant mortality rates are carbon monoxide, particulate matter less than 10 µm in diameter and ozone. Particulate matter and ozone have no noticeable affects on infant deaths, but exposure to high levels of carbon monoxide does increase the mortality rates.^{[contradictory]} Carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless gas that does great harm especially to infants because of their immature respiratory system.^[21] Another major pollutant is second hand smoke. This is a pollutant that can have detrimental effects on a fetus. According to the American Journal of Public Health "in 2006, more than 42 000 Americans died of second hand smoke-attributable diseases, including more than 41 000 adults and nearly 900 infants…fully 36% of the infants who died of low birth weight caused by exposure to maternal smoking in utero were Blacks, as were 28% of those dying of respiratory distress syndrome, 25% dying of other respiratory conditions, and 24% dying of sudden infant death syndrome." More importantly, smoking is worse for the fetus The American Journal of Epidemiology also stated that "Compared with nonsmoking women having their first birth, women who smoked less than one pack of cigarettes per day had a 25% greater risk of mortality, and those who smoked one or more packs per day had a 56% greater risk. Among women having their second or higher birth, smokers experienced 30% greater mortality than nonsmokers." Smoking has a direct effect on the fetus and women need to learn this information in order to prevent infant mortality.

Modern research in the United States on racial disparties in infant mortality suggests a link between the institutionalized racism that pervades the environment and high rates of African-American infant mortality. In synthesis of this research it has been observed that "African American infant mortality remains elevated due to the social arrangements that exist between groups and the lifelong experiences responding to the resultant power dynamics of these arrangements."^[7]

Measuring IMR

The infant mortality rate correlates very strongly with, and is among the best predictors of, state failure.^[22] IMR is therefore also a useful indicator of a country's level of health or development, and is a component of the physical quality of life index.

However, the method of calculating IMR often varies widely between countries, and is based on how they define a live birth and how many premature infants are born in the country. Infant mortality rates can be flawed depending on a nations’ live birth criterion, vital registration system, and reporting practices.^[23] Certain practices of measurements have the potential to be underestimated. Measurements provide a statistical way of measuring the standard of living of residents living in each nation. Increases and decreases of the infant mortality rate reflect social and technical capacities of a nations’ population.^[6] The World Health Organization (WHO) defines a live birth as any born human being who demonstrates independent signs of life, including breathing, heartbeat, umbilical cord pulsation or definite movement of voluntary muscles.^[24] This definition is practised in Austria, for example.^[25] In Germany the WHO definition is practised as well but with one little adjustment: the muscle movement is not considered as a sign of life.^[26] Many countries, however, including certain European states (e.g. France) and Japan, only count as live births cases where an infant breathes at birth, which makes their reported IMR numbers somewhat lower and raises their rates of perinatal mortality.^[27] In the Czech Republic and Bulgaria, for instance, requirements for live birth are even higher.^[28]

Although many countries have vital registration systems and certain reporting practices, there are a great number of inaccuracies, particularly in undeveloped nations, in the statistics of the amount of infants dying. Studies have shown in comparing three information sources: official registries, household surveys, and popular reporters, the “popular death reporters” show the greatest amount of accuracy. Popular death reporters include indigenous midwives, gravediggers, coffin builders, priests, and more—essentially people who knew the most about the child’s death. In developing nations, access to vital registries, and other government run systems pose difficulties for poor families to record births and deaths due to a variety of reasons. These struggles force stress on families, and make them take drastic measures in unofficial death ceremonies for their deceased infants, as well as inaccurately reflect a nations infant mortality rate. Popular death reporters provide information first hand from inside sources gaining reliable facts that: provide a nation with accurate death counts, meaningful causes of deaths that can be measured/studied, and allow a sense of relief and meaning to a child’s death which may give families less pain/grievance.^[29]

UNICEF uses a statistical methodology to account for reporting differences among countries:

UNICEF compiles infant mortality country estimates derived from all sources and methods of estimation obtained either from standard reports, direct estimation from micro data sets, or from UNICEF’s yearly exercise. In order to sort out differences between estimates produced from different sources, with different methods, UNICEF developed, in coordination with WHO, the WB and UNSD, an estimation methodology that minimizes the errors embodied in each estimate and harmonize trends along time. Since the estimates are not necessarily the exact values used as input for the model, they are often not recognized as the official IMR estimates used at the country level. However, as mentioned before, these estimates minimize errors and maximize the consistency of trends along time.^[30]

Another challenge to comparability is the practice of counting frail or premature infants who die before the normal due date as miscarriages (spontaneous abortions) or those who die during or immediately after childbirth as stillborn. Therefore, the quality of a country's documentation of perinatal mortality can matter greatly to the accuracy of its infant mortality statistics. This point is reinforced by the demographer Ansley Coale, who finds dubiously high ratios of reported stillbirths to infant deaths in Hong Kong and Japan in the first 24 hours after birth, a pattern that is consistent with the high recorded sex ratios at birth in those countries. It suggests not only that many female infants who die in the first 24 hours are misreported as stillbirths rather than infant deaths, but also that those countries do not follow WHO recommendations for the reporting of live births and infant deaths.^[31]

Another seemingly paradoxical finding, is that when countries with poor medical services introduce new medical centers and services, instead of declining, the reported IMRs often increase for a time. This is mainly because improvement in access to medical care is often accompanied by improvement in the registration of births and deaths. Deaths that might have occurred in a remote or rural area, and not been reported to the government, might now be reported by the new medical personnel or facilities. Thus, even if the new health services reduce the actual IMR, the reported IMR may increase.

Collecting the accurate statistics of infant mortality rate could be an issue in some rural communities in developing countries. In those communities, some other alternative methods for calculating infant mortality rate are emerged, for example, popular death reporting and household survey.^[29] The country-to-country variation in child mortality rates is huge, and growing wider despite the progress. Among the world’s roughly 200 nations, only Somalia showed no decrease in the under-5 mortality rate over the past two decades.The lowest rate in 2011 was in Singapore, which had 2.6 deaths of children under age 5 per 1,000 live births. The highest was in Sierra Leone, which had 185 child deaths per 1,000 births. The global rate is 51 deaths per 1,000 births. For the United States, the rate is eight per 1,000 births.^[32]

Infant mortality rate (IMR) is not only a group of statistic but instead it is a reflection of the socioeconomic development and effectively represents the presence of medical services in the countries. IMR is an effective resource for the health department to make decision on medical resources reallocation. IMR also formulates the global health strategies and help evaluate the program success. The existence of IMR helps solve the inadequacies of the other vital statistic systems for global health as most of the vital statistic systems usually neglect the infant mortality statistic number from the poor. There are certain amounts of unrecorded infant deaths in the rural area as they do not have information about infant mortality rate statistic or do not have the concept about reporting early infant death.^[29]

Europe and America

The exclusion of any high-risk infants from the denominator or numerator in reported IMRs can be problematic for comparisons. Many countries, including the United States, Sweden and Germany, count an infant exhibiting any sign of life as alive, no matter the month of gestation or the size, but according to United States some other countries differ in these practices. All of the countries named adopted the WHO definitions in the late 1980s or early 1990s,^[33] which are used throughout the European Union.^[34] However, in 2009, the US CDC issued a report that stated that the American rates of infant mortality were affected by the United States' high rates of premature babies compared to European countries. It also outlined the differences in reporting requirements between the United States and Europe, noting that France, the Czech Republic, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Poland do not report all live births of babies under 500 g and/or 22 weeks of gestation.^[35]^[36]^[37] The report concluded, however, that the differences in reporting are unlikely to be the primary explanation for the United States’ relatively low international ranking.^[38]

Russia

Until the 1990s, Russia and the Soviet Union did not count, as a live birth or as an infant death, extremely premature infants (less than 1,000 g, less than 28 weeks gestational age, or less than 35 cm in length) that were born alive (breathed, had a heartbeat, or exhibited voluntary muscle movement) but failed to survive for at least seven days.^[39] Although such extremely premature infants typically accounted for only about 0.5% of all live-born children, their exclusion from both the numerator and the denominator in the reported IMR led to an estimated 22%–25% lower reported IMR.^[40] In some cases, too, perhaps because hospitals or regional health departments were held accountable for lowering the IMR in their catchment area, infant deaths that occurred in the 12th month were "transferred" statistically to the 13th month (i.e., the second year of life), and thus no longer classified as an infant death.^[41]^[42]

Brazil

In certain rural developing areas, such as northeastern Brazil, infant births are often not recorded in the first place, resulting in the discrepancies between the infant mortality rate (IMR) and the actual amount of infant deaths. Access to vital registry systems for infant births and deaths is an extremely difficult and expensive task for poor parents living in rural areas. Government and bureaucracies tend to show an insensitivity to these parents and their recent suffering from a lost child, and produce broad disclaimers in the IMR reports that the information has not been properly reported, resulting in these discrepancies. Little has been done to address the underlying structural problems of the vital registry systems in respect to the lack of reporting from parents in rural areas, and in turn has created a gap between the official and popular meanings of child death.^[29] It is also argued that the bureaucratic separation of vital death recording from cultural death rituals is to blame for the inaccuracy of the infant mortality rate (IMR). Vital death registries often fail to recognize the cultural implications and importance of infant deaths. It is not to be said that vital registry systems are not an accurate representation of a region's socio-economic situation, but this is only the case if these statistics are valid, which is unfortunately not always the circumstance. "Popular death reporters" is an alternative method for collecting and processing statistics on infant and child mortality. Many regions may benefit from "popular death reporters" who are culturally linked to infants may be able to provide more accurate statistics on the incidence of infant mortality.^[29] According to ethnographic data, "popular death reporters" refers to people who had inside knowledge of anjinhos, including the grave-digger, gatekeeper, midwife, popular healers etc. —— all key participants in mortuary rituals.^[29] By combining the methods of household surveys, vital registries, and asking "popular death reporters" this can increase the validity of child mortality rates, but there are many barriers that can reflect the validity of our statistics of infant mortality. One of these barriers are political economic decisions. Numbers are exaggerated when international funds are being doled out; and underestimated during reelection.^[29]

The bureaucratic separation of vital death reporting and cultural death rituals stems in part due to structural violence.^[43] Individuals living in rural areas of Brazil need to invest large capital for lodging and travel in order to report infant birth to a Brazilian Assistance League office. The negative financial aspects deters registration, as often individuals are of lower income and cannot afford such expenses.^[29] Similar to the lack of birth reporting, families in rural Brazil face difficult choices based on already existing structural arrangements when choosing to report infant mortality. Financial constraints such as reliance on food supplementations may also lead to skewed infant mortality data.^[29]

In developing countries such as Brazil the deaths of impoverished infants are regularly unrecorded into the countries vital registration system; this causes a skew statistically. Culturally validity and contextual soundness can be used to ground the meaning of mortality from a statistical standpoint. In northeast Brazil they have accomplished this standpoint while conducting an ethnographic study combined with an alternative method to survey infant mortality.^[29] These types of techniques can develop quality ethnographic data that will ultimately lead to a better portrayal of the magnitude of infant mortality in the region. Political economic reasons have been seen to skew the infant mortality data in the past when governor Ceara devised his presidency campaign on reducing the infant mortality rate during his term in office. By using this new way of surveying, these instances can be minimized and removed, overall creating accurate and sound data.^[29]

Societal infrastructure

Socio-economic factors

Social class is a major factor in infant mortality, both historically and today. Over the period between 1912 and 1915, the Children’s Bureau examined data across eight cities and nearly 23,000 live births. They discovered that lower incomes tend to correlate with higher infant mortality. If the father had no income, the rate of infant mortality was 357% more than that for the highest income earners ($1,250+). As well, differences between races were apparent during this time period. African-American mothers experience an infant mortality at a rate 44% higher than average,^[44] however, research indicates that socio-economic factors do not totally account for the racial disparities in infant mortality.^[7]

While infant mortality is normally negatively correlated with GDP, there may indeed be some opposing short-term effects to a recession. A recent study by The Economist shows that economic slowdowns reduce the amount of air pollution, which results in a lower infant mortality rate. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, the recession’s impact on air quality is estimated to have saved around 1,300 US babies.^[45] It is only during deep recessions that infant mortality increases. According to Norbert Schady and Marc-Francois Smitz, recessions where GDP per capita drops by 15% or more have a negative impact on infant mortality.^[46]

Social class dictates which medical services are available to an individual and usually, the various levels within the socioeconomic hierarchy receive different quality of medical services. Disparities due to socioeconomic factors have been exacerbated by advances of technology in the medical field. Developed countries, most notably the United States, have seen a dichotomization from technological advances. Those living in poverty cannot afford medical advanced resources which leads to an increased chance of infant mortality.^[16]

War

In policy, there is a lag time between realization of a problem’s possible solution and actual implementation of policy solutions.^[47] Infant mortality rates are inversely related to war, political unrest, and government corruption.^[3]

In most cases, war-affected areas will experience a significant increase in infant mortality rates.. Having a War taking place where a woman is planning on having a baby is not only stressful on the mother and fetus, but also has several detrimental effects. Commondreams.org reported that “in the years since 1990, Iraq has seen its child mortality rate soar by 125 per cent, the highest increase of any country in the world. Its rate of deaths of children under five now matches that of Mauritania.” Also, “Figures collated by the charity show that in 1990 Iraq's mortality rate for under-fives was 50 per 1,000 live births. In 2005 it was 125. While many other countries have higher rates – Angola, Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, for instance, all have rates above 200 – the increase in Iraq is higher than elsewhere” according to commondreams.org. The primary causes of the increase are external factors such as murder and abuse. However, many other significant factors influence infant mortality rates in war-torn areas. Health care systems in developing countries in the midst of war often collapse. Attaining basic medical supplies and care becomes increasingly difficult. During the Yugoslav Wars in the 1990s Bosnia experienced a 60% decrease in child immunizations. Preventable diseases can quickly become epidemic given the medical conditions during war.^[48]

Many developing countries rely on foreign aid for basic nutrition. Transport of aid becomes significantly more difficult in times of war. In most situations the average weight of a population will drop substantially.^[49] Expecting mothers are affected even more by lack of access to food and water. During the Yugoslav Wars in Bosnia the number of premature babies born increased and the average birth weight decreased.^[48]

There have been several instances in recent years of systematic rape as a weapon of war. Women who become pregnant as a result of war rape face even more significant challenges in bearing a healthy child. Studies suggest that women who experience sexual violence before or during pregnancy are more likely to experience infant death in their children.^[50]^[51]^[52] Causes of infant mortality in abused women range from physical side effects of the initial trauma to psychological effects that lead to poor adjustment to society. Many women who became pregnant by rape in Bosnia were isolated from their hometowns making life after childbirth exponentially more difficult.^[53]

Medicine and biology

Developing countries suffer from a lack of access to affordable and professional health care resources, and skilled personnel during deliveries.^[3]^[47] Countries with histories of extreme poverty also have a pattern of epidemics, endemic infectious diseases, and low levels of access to maternal and child healthcare.^[54]

Some people believe that vaccinations given to infants account for some deaths in infants relating to SIDS. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that infants need multiple doses of vaccines such as Diphtheria-Tetanus-acellular Pertussis, Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) vaccine, Hepatitis B (HepB) vaccine, Inacticated Polio vaccine (IPV), and Pneumococus vaccine (PCV). Many people believe giving infants these vaccines increase the risk of SIDS. Research was conducted by the Immuniation Safety Review Committee concluded that there is no relationship between these vaccines and risk of SIDS in infants. This tells us that not only is it extremely necessary for every child to get these vaccines to prevent serious diseases, but there is no reason to believe that if your child does receive an immunization that it will have any effect on their risk of SIDS.^[55]

Economics

Political modernization perspective, the neo-classical economic theory that scarce goods are most effectively distributed to the market, say that the level of political democracy influences the rate of infant mortality. Developing nations with democratic governments tend to be more responsive to public opinion, social movements, and special interest groups for issues like infant mortality. In contrast, non-democratic governments are more interested in corporate issues and less so in health issues. Democratic status effects the dependency a nation has towards its economic state via export, investments from multinational corporations and international lending institutions.^[54]

Levels of socioeconomic development and global integration are inversely related to a nation’s infant mortality rate.^[3]^[56] Dependency perspective occurs in a global capital system. A nation’s internal impact is highly influenced by its position in the global economy and has adverse affects on the survival of children in developing countries.^[17] Countries can experience disproportionate effects from its trade and stratification within the global system.^[57] It aids in the global division of labor, distorting the domestic economy of developing nations. The dependency of developing nations can lead to a reduce rate of economic growth, increase income inequality inter- and intra-national, and adversely affects the wellbeing of a nation’s population. A collective cooperation between economic countries plays a role in development policies in the poorer, peripheral, countries of the world.^[54]

These economic factors can challenge sovereignty governments have over public health policy.^[17] If the nation's ability to raise its own revenues is compromised, governments will lose funding for its health service programs, including services that aim in decreasing infant mortality rates.^[54] Peripheral countries face higher levels of vulnerability to the possible negative effects of globalization and trade in relation to key countries in the global market.^[17]

Even with a strong economy and economic growth (measured by a country's Gross National Product), the advances of medical technologies may not be felt by everyone, lending itself to increasing social disparities.^[16]

Cultural

High rates of infant mortality occur in developing countries where financial and material resources are scarce and there is a high tolerance to high number of infant deaths. There are circumstances where a number of developing countries to breed a culture where situations of infant mortality such as favoring male babies over female babies are the norm.^[3] In developing countries such as Brazil, infant mortality rates are commonly not recorded due to failure to register for death certificates.^[29] Failure to register is mainly due to the potential loss of time and money and other indirect costs to the family.^[29] Even with resource opportunities such as the 1973 Public Registry Law 6015, which allowed free registration for low-income families, the requirements to qualify hold back individuals who are not contracted workers.^[29] Instead of providing incentives for families to self-report, researchers for infant mortality rates in developing countries should be culturally sensitive in figuring out why families fail to accurately report infant mortality, even when questioned by death recorders. Researchers can be more culturally sensitive in the collection of mortality data by administrating "popular death reporters" (members of the community who witness infant deaths; people such as traditional healers, coffin workers, grave diggers).^[29] This alternative method of collecting infant mortality data is both accurate and a culturally sensitive method of collecting data in the most humane approach, taking special consideration to those suffering the difficulty of an experiencing an infant death within their family.

Another cultural reason for infant mortality, such as what is happening in Ghana, is that "besides the obvious, like rutted roads, there are prejudices against wives or newborns leaving the house." ^[58] Because of this it is making it even more difficult for the women and newborns to get the treatment that is available to them and that is needed.

Cultural influences and lifestyle habits in the United States can account for some deaths in infants throughout the years. It has been reported that cultures other than white have an increased chance of experiencing infant mortality. According to the Journal of the American Medical Association “the post neonatal mortality risk (28 to 364 days) was highest among continental Puerto Ricans” compared to babies of the non-Hispanic race. Examples of this include teenage pregnancy, obesity, diabetes and smoking. All are possible causes of premature births, which is the second highest cause of infant mortality.^[11] Ethnic differences experienced in the United States are accompanied by higher prevalence of behavioral risk factors and sociodemographic challenges that each ethnic group faces.^[8]

Gender favoritism

Historically, males have had higher infant mortality rates than females. The difference between male and female infant mortality rates have been dependent on environmental, social, and economic conditions. More specifically, males are biologically more vulnerable to infections and conditions associated with prematurity and development. Before 1970, the reasons for male infant mortality were due to infections, and chronic degenerative diseases. However, since 1970, certain cultures emphasizing males has led to a decrease in the infant mortality gap between males and females. Also, medical advances have resulted in a growing number of male infants surviving at higher rates than females due to the initial high infant mortality rate of males.^[59]

Genetic components results in newborn females being biologically advantaged when in comes to surviving their first birthday. Males, biologically, have lower chances of surviving infancy in comparison to female babies. As infant mortality rates saw a decrease on a global scale, the gender most affected by infant mortality changed from males experiences a biological disadvantage, to females facing a societal disadvantage.^[59] Some developing nations have social and cultural patterns that reflects adult discrimination to favor boys over girls for their future potential to contribute to the household production level. Service sectors may benefit women more than if women were to go into the industrial sector where men tend to dominate and succeed. A country’s ethnic composition, homogeneous versus heterogeneous, can explain social attitudes and practices. Heterogeneous level is a strong predictor in explaining infant mortality.^[56]

Birth space

Birth space is the time between births. Births spaced at least 3 years apart from one another are associated with the lowest rate of mortality. The longer the birth space, the lower the risk for having any birthing complications, and infant, childhood and maternal mortality.^[4]^[60] Higher rates of pre-term births, and low birth weight are associated with birth to conception intervals of less than 6 months and abortion to pregnancy interval of less than 6 months. Shorter birth space increases chances of chronic (medicine) and general under-nutrition; 57% of women in 55 developing countries reported birth spaces shorter than three years; 26% report birth spacing of less than two years. Only 20% of post-partum women report wanting another birth within 2 years; however, only 40% are taking necessary steps such as family planning to achieve the birth intervals they want.^[4]

Unplanned pregnancies and birth intervals of less than twenty-four months are known to correlate with low birth weights and delivery complications. Also, women who are already small in stature tend to deliver smaller than average babies, perpetuating a cycle of being underweight.^[3]^[61]^[60]

Education

The mother’s educational attainment and literacy are correlated with age of first pregnancy, and probability that the mother attain prenatal and postnatal care. Mothers with a secondary education have a higher probability of waiting until a later age to get pregnant. Once pregnant, they are also more likely to get prenatal and postnatal care, and deliver their child in the presence of a skilled attendant. Women who finish at least a primary-level education have improved nutrition, medical care, information access, and economic independence. Infants reap benefits such as healthy environments, improved nutrition, and medical care. Mothers with some level of education have a higher probability to breastfeeding.^[3]^[17]^[56] The duration of breastfeeding has the potential to influence the birth space.^[60] Women without any educational background tend to have children at an earlier age, thus their bodies are not yet mature enough to carry and deliver a child.^[3]

Comparing infant mortality rates

Global trends

Template:Table of global infant mortality rates

For the world, and for both less developed countries (LDCs) and more developed countries (MDCs), IMR declined significantly between 1960 and 2001. According to the State of the World's Mothers report by Save the Children, the world IMR declined from 126 in 1960 to 57 in 2001.^[62]

However, IMR was, and remains, higher in LDCs. In 2001, the IMR for LDCs (91) was about 10 times as large as it was for MDCs (8). On average, for LDCs, the IMR is 17 times as higher than that of MDCs. Also, while both LDCs and MDCs made significant reductions in infant mortality rates, reductions among less developed countries are, on average, much less than those among the more developed countries.

A difference of almost 100 times separate countries with the highest and lowest reported infant mortality rates. The top and bottom five countries by this measure (taken from The World Factbook's 2012 estimates^[63]) are shown below.

Rank	Country	Infant mortality rate (deaths/1,000 live births)
1	Afghanistan	121.63
2	Niger	109.98
3	Mali	109.08
4	Somalia	103.72
5	Central African Republic	97.17
218	Sweden	2.74
219	Singapore	2.65
220	Bermuda	2.47
221	Japan	2.21
222	Monaco	1.80

Yet one has to keep in mind that according to Guillot, Gerland, Pelletier and Saabneh "birth histories, however, are subject to a number of errors, including omission of deaths and age misreporting errors." Not to say this information is incorrect, but to be aware that in other countries the numbers may not be fully accurate due to those reasons.^[64]

In the United States

Several reports state that infant mortality rate in the United States is significantly higher than in other developed nations.^[7]^[65]^[66]

In the 1850s, the infant mortality rate in the United States was estimated at 216.8 per 1,000 babies born for whites and 340.0 per 1,000 for African Americans, but rates have significantly declined in the West in modern times. This declining rate has been mainly due to modern improvements in basic health care, technology, and medical advances.^[67] In the last three decades, infant mortality overall has also decreased considerably. In the last century, the infant mortality rate has decreased by 93%.^[8] Overall, the rates have decreased drastically from 20 deaths in 1970 to 6.9 deaths in 2003 (per every 1000 live births). In 2003, the leading causes of infant mortality in the United States were congenital anomalies, disorders related to immaturity, SIDS, and maternal complications. Babies born with low birth weight increased to 8.1% while cigarette smoking during pregnancy declined to 10.2%. This reflected the amount of low birth weights concluding that 12.4% of births from smokers were low birth weights opposing to 7.7% of such births from non-smokers.^[68] According to the New York Times “the main reason for the high rate is preterm delivery, and there was a 10% increase in such births from 2000 to 2006”.

The vast majority of research conducted in the late 20th and early 21st century indicates that African-American infants are more than twice as likely to die in their first year of life than are white infants. Contemporary research findings have demonstrated that nationwide racial disparities in infant mortality are linked to the experiential state of the mother and that these disparities cannot be totally accounted for by socio-economic, behavioral or genetic factors.^[7] A study in North Carolina, for example, concluded that "white women who did not complete high school have a lower infant mortality rate than black college graduates.”^[69] According to Mustillo's CARDIA (Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults) study "self reported experiences of racial discrimination were associated with pre-term and low-birthweight deliveries, and such experiences may contribute to black-white disparities in prenatal outcomes.”^[70] Likewise, dozens of population-based studies indicate that "the subjective, or perceived experience of racial discrimination is strongly associated with an increased risk of infant death and with poor health prospects for future generations of African Americans."^[7]

Prevention and intervention

Millennium Development Goals were created to improve the health and well being of people worldwide. Its fourth goal is to decrease the number of mortalities within the infant and childhood population by two thirds, meaning it will decrease mortality from 95 to 31 deaths per 1000.^[3] Countries slow to abide by the Millennium Development Goal by 2015 are projected to have difficulty in reaching goal four.^[47]

Medical treatments

Reductions in infant mortality are possible in any stage of a country’s development.^[6] Rate reductions are evidence that a country is advancing in human knowledge, social institutions and physical capital. Governments can reduce the mortality rates by addressing the combined need for education, nutrition, and access to basic maternal and infant health services. A policy focus has the potential to aid those most at risk for infant and childhood mortality allows rural, poor and migrant populations.^[47]

Reducing chances of babies being born at low birth weights and contracting pneumonia can be accomplished by improving air quality. Improving hygiene can prevent infant mortality. Home-based technology to chlorinate, filter, and solar disinfection for organic water pollution could reduce cases of diarrhea in children by up to 48%.^[3]^[14]^[17] Improvements in food supplies and sanitation has been shown to work in the United States' most vulnerable populations, one being African Americans. Overall, women's health status need to remain high.^[16]

Future problems for mothers and babies can be prevented. It is important that women of reproductive age adopt healthy behaviors in everyday life. Some things to improve are taking folic acid, maintaining a healthy diet and weight, be regularly physically active, quit tobacco use, and no excessive amount of alcohol or drug use. If woman follow some of the above guidelines, later complications can be prevented to help decrease the infant mortality rates. Attending regular prenatal care check-ups will help improve the baby's chances of being delivered in safer conditions and surviving.

Focusing on preventing preterm and low birth weight deliveries throughout all populations can help to eliminate cases of infant mortality and decrease health care disparities within communities. In the United States, these two goals have decreased infant morality rates on a regional population, it has yet to see further progress on a national level.^[8]

Technological advances in medicine would decrease the infant mortality rate and an increased access to such technologies could decrease racial and ethnic disparities. It has been shown that technological determinants are influenced by social determinants. Those who cannot afford to utilize advances in medicine tend to show higher rates of infant mortality. Technological advances has, in a way, contributed to the social disparities observed today. Providing equal access has the potential to decrease socioeconomic disparities in infant mortality.^[16] Specifically, Cambodia is facing issues with a disease that is unfortunately killing infants. The symptoms only last 24 hours and the result is death. As stated if technological advances were increased in countries it would make it easier to find the solution to diseases such as this.^[71]

Cultural changes

Educated females practice a healthier lifestyle. The more educated a woman is the more likely she is to seek out care, give birth in the presence of a skilled attendant, breastfeed, and understand the consequences of HIV/AIDS.^[3] More educated women tend to decrease infant mortality rate by reducing their fertility. Improving women’s health and social status is one way to ameliorate infant mortality.^[4] Status should rise for females seeking out education.^[56] Providing women access to family planning centers can educate mothers on how to plan ahead for their families. Educational means can also teach mothers on the beneficial health practices such as breastfeeding. Government recognizing birth space as a possible health intervention is now working towards making affordable contraception available.^[60]

Economic policies

Granting women employment raises their status and autonomy. Having a gainful employment can raise the perceived worth of females. This can lead to an increase in the number of women getting an education and a decrease in the number of female infanticide.^[56] In the social modernization perspective, education leads to development. Higher number of skilled workers means more earning and further economic growth. According to the economic modernization perspective, this is one type economic growth viewed as the driving force behind the increase in development and standard of living in a country. This is further explained by the modernization theory- economic development promotes physical wellbeing. As economy rises, so do technological advances and thus, medical advances in access to clean water, health care facilities, education, and diet. These changes may decrease infant mortality.^[54]^[56]

Economically, governments could reduce infant mortality by building and strengthening capacity in human resources. Increasing human resources such as physicians, nurses, and other health professionals will increase the number of skilled attendants and the number of people able to give out immunized against diseases such as measles. Increasing the number of skilled professionals is negatively correlated with maternal, infant, and childhood mortality. Between 1960 and 2000, the infant mortality rate decreased by half as the number of physicians increased by four folds.^[47] With the addition of one physician to every 1000 persons in a population, infant mortality will reduce by 30%.

Other meanings

In reliability engineering, "infant mortality" refers to the failures that occur in the first part of the bathtub curve.

References

^ Infant Mortality Rates in 2008 Population Reference Bureau
^ NICHD – The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Official Home Page. Nichd.nih.gov. Retrieved on 2013-09-29.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s ^t Andrews, K.M.; Brouillette, D.B and Brouillette, R.T. (2008). "Mortality, Infant". Encyclopedia of Infant and Early Childhood Development. Elsevier. pp. 343–359. doi:10.1016/B978-012370877-9.00084-0.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Norton, M (2005). "New evidence on birth spacing: promisng findings for improving newborn, infant, child, and maternal health". International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics. 89: S1–S6. doi:10.1016/j.ijgo.2004.12.012.
^ http://www.shelbycountychildren.org/infant-mortality-facts.html ^{[dead link]}
^ ^a ^b ^c Attention: This template ({{cite pmid}}) is deprecated. To cite the publication identified by PMID 17141591, please use {{cite journal}} with |pmid=17141591 instead.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Attention: This template ({{cite doi}}) is deprecated. To cite the publication identified by doi:10.2139/ssrn.2173553 , please use {{cite journal}} (if it was published in a bona fide academic journal, otherwise {{cite report}} with |doi=10.2139/ssrn.2173553 instead.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Attention: This template ({{cite pmid}}) is deprecated. To cite the publication identified by PMID 19753945, please use {{cite journal}} with |pmid=19753945 instead.
^ Infant Mortality, Low birth Weight and Racial Disparity. nationalhealthystart.org (2000)
^ WHO | Preterm birth. Who.int. Retrieved on 2013-09-29.
^ ^a ^b McNeil, D. (May 2, 2012) U.S. Lags in Global Measure of Premature Births. New York Times
^ Sudden Infant Death Syndrom. National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine. August 2, 2011
^ WHO | Micronutrient deficiencies Template:WebCite
^ ^a ^b Nussbaum, Martha (2011). Creating Capabilities. The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. ISBN 0674050541.
^ Folic Acid. National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Attention: This template ({{cite doi}}) is deprecated. To cite the publication identified by doi:10.1146/annurev.soc.23.1.147 , please use {{cite journal}} (if it was published in a bona fide academic journal, otherwise {{cite report}} with |doi=10.1146/annurev.soc.23.1.147 instead.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Attention: This template ({{cite doi}}) is deprecated. To cite the publication identified by doi:10.1016/j.soscij.2004.01.008, please use {{cite journal}} (if it was published in a bona fide academic journal, otherwise {{cite report}} with |doi=10.1016/j.soscij.2004.01.008 instead.
^ Attention: This template ({{cite pmid}}) is deprecated. To cite the publication identified by PMID 18197308, please use {{cite journal}} with |pmid=18197308 instead.
^ Glinianaia, S.V. (2004). "Does Particulate Air Pollution Contribute to Infant Death? A Systematic Review". Environmental Health Perspectives. 112 (14): 1365–71. doi:10.1289/ehp.6857. PMC 1247561. PMID 15471726. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
^ Infant Mortality. Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
^ Benjamin, D.K, (2006). Air Pollution and Infant Mortality. Property and Environmental Research Center Report. 24 (4).
^ Gary King (2001). "Improving forecasts of state failure" (PDF). World Politics. 53 (4): 623–658. doi:10.1353/wp.2001.0018. Retrieved 2007-05-26. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
^ Attention: This template ({{cite doi}}) is deprecated. To cite the publication identified by doi:10.1016/j.worlddev.2009.11.013 , please use {{cite journal}} (if it was published in a bona fide academic journal, otherwise {{cite report}} with |doi=10.1016/j.worlddev.2009.11.013 instead.
^ Neonatal mortality rate (per 1000 live births). WHO. 2011
^ http://www.pflegerecht.at/Druck/Versionen-Berufsrecht/Druckversion-HebG.pdf
^ PStV – Einzelnorm. Gesetze-im-internet.de. Retrieved on 2013-09-29.
^ Healy, Bernadine (2006-09-24). "Behind the Baby Count". US News & World Report. Retrieved 2007-06-25.
^ Demographic Statistics: Definitions and Methods of Collection in 31 European Countries (by European Communities, 2003). (PDF) . Retrieved on 2013-09-29.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o Attention: This template ({{cite doi}}) is deprecated. To cite the publication identified by doi:10.1525/maq.1991.5.3.02a00020, please use {{cite journal}} (if it was published in a bona fide academic journal, otherwise {{cite report}} with |doi=10.1525/maq.1991.5.3.02a00020 instead.
^ Millennium Indicators. Mdgs.un.org. Retrieved on 2013-09-29.
^ Attention: This template ({{cite pmid}}) is deprecated. To cite the publication identified by PMID 7828766, please use {{cite journal}} with |pmid=7828766 instead.
^ Brown, David (2011-02-28) Child mortality falls more than 40 percent in the past two decades. The Washington Post.
^ Attention: This template ({{cite pmid}}) is deprecated. To cite the publication identified by PMID 8578873, please use {{cite journal}} with |pmid=8578873 instead.
^ Definition of data collected in the European Union, see item 8. europa.eu.
^ Hendrick, Bill (2009-11-04). "Preemies Raise U.S. Infant Mortality Rate". WebMD. Retrieved 2009-11-04.
^ Stobbe, Mike (2009-11-03). "Premature births worsen US infant death rate". Associated Press. Retrieved 2009-11-04.
^ CDC (2009-11). "Behind International Rankings of Infant Mortality: How the United States Compares with Europe". Centers for Disease Control. Archived from the original on 2011-08-22. Retrieved 2009-11-04. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
^ CDC (2009-11). "Behind International Rankings of Infant Mortality: How the United States Compares with Europe". Centers for Disease Control. Retrieved 2009-11-05. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
^ Barbara A. Anderson (December 1986). "Infant Mortality in the Soviet Union: regional differences and measurement issues". Population and Development Review. 12 (4): 705–737. doi:10.2307/1973432. JSTOR 1973432. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
^ In 1990, the Baltic states moved to the WHO standard definition; in 1993 Russia also moved to this definition.
^ Attention: This template ({{cite doi}}) is deprecated. To cite the publication identified by doi:10.2307/1532733, please use {{cite journal}} (if it was published in a bona fide academic journal, otherwise {{cite report}} with |doi=10.2307/1532733 instead.
^ N. Yu. Ksenofontova (1994). "Trends in infant mortality in the USSR". In W. Lutz; S. Scherbov; A. Volkov (ed.). Demographic Trends and Patterns in the Soviet Union before 1991. London: Routledge. pp. 359–378. ISBN 0415101948.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: editors list (link)
^ Farmer, Paul (24). "Structural Violence and Clinical Medicine". PLoS Medicine. 3 (10): e449. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.0030449. PMC 1621099. PMID 17076568. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= and |year= / |date= mismatch (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link)
^ Haines, Michael R. Inequality and Infant and Childhood Mortality in the United States in the Twentieth Century. NBER Working Paper No. 16133, Issued in June 2010
^ "A recession breathes life". The Economist. 2009-06-01. Archived from the original on 2009-07-25.
^ Schady, Norbert and Smitz, Marc (August 2009) Aggregate Economic Shocks and Infant Mortality: New Evidence for Middle-Income Countries. The World Bank
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Farahani, M (2009). "The effects of changes in health sector resources on infant mortality in the short-run and the long-run: A longitudinal econometric analysis". Social Science & Medicine. 68 (11): 1918–1925. doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2009.03.023. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
^ ^a ^b Krug, Etienne (2002). World Report on Violence and Health. Geneva: Geneva WHO. Retrieved 2010-09-11.
^ Toole, Michael J. "EBSCOhost: Are war and public health compatible?" (Academic Search Premier). EBSCOhost. Retrieved 2010-09-04. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
^ Asling-Monemi, Kaja (2003). "Violence against women increases the risk of infant and child mortality: a case-referent study in Nicaragua". Bulletin of the World Health Organization. 81 (1): 10–16. PMC 2572309. PMID 12640470. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
^ Emenike, E (2008-03). "Intimate partner violence and reproductive health of women in Kenya". International Nursing Review. 55 (1): 97–102. doi:10.1111/j.1466-7657.2007.00580.x. PMID 18275542. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
^ Jejeebhoy, Shireen J. (1998-09). "Associations between Wife-Beating and Fetal and Infant Death: Impressions from a Survey in Rural India". Studies in Family Planning. 29 (3): 300–308. doi:10.2307/172276. JSTOR 172276. PMID 9789323. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
^ Fisher, Siobhán K. (1996-10). "Occupation of the Womb: Forced Impregnation as Genocide". Duke Law Journal. 46 (1): 91–133. doi:10.2307/1372967. JSTOR 1372967. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Attention: This template ({{cite pmid}}) is deprecated. To cite the publication identified by PMID 15110423, please use {{cite journal}} with |pmid=15110423 instead.
^ Stratton, Kathleen; Almario, Donna A.; Wizemann, Theresa M. and McCormick, Marie C. (2003) Immunization Safety Review: Vaccinations and Sudden Unexpected Death in Infancy. Institute of Medicine, Immunization Safety Review Committee, Board of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Fuse, K (2006). "Gender imbalance in infant mortality: A cross-national study of social structure and female infanticide". Social Science & Medicine. 62 (2): 360–374. doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2005.06.006. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
^ Attention: This template ({{cite pmid}}) is deprecated. To cite the publication identified by PMID 16457924, please use {{cite journal}} with |pmid=16457924 instead.
^ McNeil, D. (October 29, 2012) Ghana: A grant meant to curb infant mortality focuses on getting mothers to the hospital. New York Times
^ ^a ^b Attention: This template ({{cite doi}}) is deprecated. To cite the publication identified by doi:10.1073/pnas.0800221105, please use {{cite journal}} (if it was published in a bona fide academic journal, otherwise {{cite report}} with |doi=10.1073/pnas.0800221105 instead.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Attention: This template ({{cite pmid}}) is deprecated. To cite the publication identified by PMID 15820369, please use {{cite journal}} with |pmid=15820369 instead.
^ Attention: This template ({{cite pmid}}) is deprecated. To cite the publication identified by PMID 15820364, please use {{cite journal}} with |pmid=15820364 instead.
^ UNICEF, State of the World's Children 2003 infant mortality table. Unicef.org. Retrieved on 2013-09-29.
^ "CIA – The World Factbook: Infant Mortality Rate". Archived from the original on December 18, 2012. Retrieved December 18, 2012. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
^ Attention: This template ({{cite doi}}) is deprecated. To cite the publication identified by doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1001299, please use {{cite journal}} (if it was published in a bona fide academic journal, otherwise {{cite report}} with |doi=10.1371/journal.pmed.1001299 instead.
^ Attention: This template ({{cite doi}}) is deprecated. To cite the publication identified by doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1001080, please use {{cite journal}} (if it was published in a bona fide academic journal, otherwise {{cite report}} with |doi=10.1371/journal.pmed.1001080 instead.
^ Attention: This template ({{cite doi}}) is deprecated. To cite the publication identified by doi:10.1001/jama.284.4.483, please use {{cite journal}} (if it was published in a bona fide academic journal, otherwise {{cite report}} with |doi=10.1001/jama.284.4.483 instead.
^ Sullivan, A., Sheffrin, S. (2003) Economics: Principles in Action, Pearson Prentice Hall, ISBN 0-13-063085-3
^ Preventing Infant Mortality. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (Jan 13, 2006).
^ Attention: This template ({{cite pmid}}) is deprecated. To cite the publication identified by PMID 15284044, please use {{cite journal}} with |pmid=15284044 instead.
^ Attention: This template ({{cite pmid}}) is deprecated. To cite the publication identified by PMID 15569964, please use {{cite journal}} with |pmid=15569964 instead.
^ McDonald, M. (4 July 2012). What’s Killing Cambodia’s Children? blogs.nytimes.com

External links

The State of the World's Children 2008: Child Survival
Children at Risk from the Dean Peter Krogh Foreign Affairs Digital Archives
Infant mortality on the Children's Rights Portal
Infant mortality rate – Country comparison
The World Health Report 2005 – Make Every Mother and Child Count
World Health Statistics – Probability of dying (per 1000) under age five years (under-5 mortality rate)
World Health Statistics – Neonatal mortality rate (per 1000 live births)
Born in Bradford – a 2006 UK-based research cohort study investigating the causes of infant mortality and low birth rate in Bradford, UK.
Very low birthweight in African American infants: The role of maternal exposure to interpersonal racial discrimination, from American Journal of Public Health, 94, p. 2132–2138.
State of the World's Mothers 2006 Up to date 2006 analysis of infant mortality rates published by Save the Children.

[1] Infant Mortality Rates in 2008 Population Reference Bureau

[2] NICHD – The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Official Home Page. Nichd.nih.gov. Retrieved on 2013-09-29.

[Andrews-3] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s ^t Andrews, K.M.; Brouillette, D.B and Brouillette, R.T. (2008). "Mortality, Infant". Encyclopedia of Infant and Early Childhood Development. Elsevier. pp. 343–359. doi:10.1016/B978-012370877-9.00084-0.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

[Norton-4] Norton, M (2005). "New evidence on birth spacing: promisng findings for improving newborn, infant, child, and maternal health". International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics. 89: S1–S6. doi:10.1016/j.ijgo.2004.12.012.

[5] ttp://www.shelbycountychildren.org/infant-mortality-facts.html ^{[dead link]}

[Bishai-6] Attention: This template ({{cite pmid}}) is deprecated. To cite the publication identified by PMID 17141591, please use {{cite journal}} with |pmid=17141591 instead.

[ssrn.com-7] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Attention: This template ({{cite doi}}) is deprecated. To cite the publication identified by doi:10.2139/ssrn.2173553 , please use {{cite journal}} (if it was published in a bona fide academic journal, otherwise {{cite report}} with |doi=10.2139/ssrn.2173553 instead.

[MacDorman_2009-8] Attention: This template ({{cite pmid}}) is deprecated. To cite the publication identified by PMID 19753945, please use {{cite journal}} with |pmid=19753945 instead.

[9] Infant Mortality, Low birth Weight and Racial Disparity. nationalhealthystart.org (2000)

[10] WHO | Preterm birth. Who.int. Retrieved on 2013-09-29.

[lag-11] McNeil, D. (May 2, 2012) U.S. Lags in Global Measure of Premature Births. New York Times

[12] Sudden Infant Death Syndrom. National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine. August 2, 2011

[13] WHO | Micronutrient deficiencies Template:WebCite

[Nussbaum-14] Nussbaum, Martha (2011). Creating Capabilities. The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. ISBN 0674050541.

[15] Folic Acid. National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine

[Gortmaker_1997-16] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Attention: This template ({{cite doi}}) is deprecated. To cite the publication identified by doi:10.1146/annurev.soc.23.1.147 , please use {{cite journal}} (if it was published in a bona fide academic journal, otherwise {{cite report}} with |doi=10.1146/annurev.soc.23.1.147 instead.

[Jorgenson-17] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Attention: This template ({{cite doi}}) is deprecated. To cite the publication identified by doi:10.1016/j.soscij.2004.01.008, please use {{cite journal}} (if it was published in a bona fide academic journal, otherwise {{cite report}} with |doi=10.1016/j.soscij.2004.01.008 instead.

[18] Attention: This template ({{cite pmid}}) is deprecated. To cite the publication identified by PMID 18197308, please use {{cite journal}} with |pmid=18197308 instead.

[Glinianaia-19] Glinianaia, S.V. (2004). "Does Particulate Air Pollution Contribute to Infant Death? A Systematic Review". Environmental Health Perspectives. 112 (14): 1365–71. doi:10.1289/ehp.6857. PMC 1247561. PMID 15471726. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)

[20] Infant Mortality. Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

[21] Benjamin, D.K, (2006). Air Pollution and Infant Mortality. Property and Environmental Research Center Report. 24 (4).

[22] Gary King (2001). "Improving forecasts of state failure" (PDF). World Politics. 53 (4): 623–658. doi:10.1353/wp.2001.0018. Retrieved 2007-05-26. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)

[Anthopolos-23] Attention: This template ({{cite doi}}) is deprecated. To cite the publication identified by doi:10.1016/j.worlddev.2009.11.013 , please use {{cite journal}} (if it was published in a bona fide academic journal, otherwise {{cite report}} with |doi=10.1016/j.worlddev.2009.11.013 instead.

[24] Neonatal mortality rate (per 1000 live births). WHO. 2011

[25] ttp://www.pflegerecht.at/Druck/Versionen-Berufsrecht/Druckversion-HebG.pdf

[26] PStV – Einzelnorm. Gesetze-im-internet.de. Retrieved on 2013-09-29.

[us_news-27] Healy, Bernadine (2006-09-24). "Behind the Baby Count". US News & World Report. Retrieved 2007-06-25.

[28] Demographic Statistics: Definitions and Methods of Collection in 31 European Countries (by European Communities, 2003). (PDF) . Retrieved on 2013-09-29.

[Nations-29] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o Attention: This template ({{cite doi}}) is deprecated. To cite the publication identified by doi:10.1525/maq.1991.5.3.02a00020, please use {{cite journal}} (if it was published in a bona fide academic journal, otherwise {{cite report}} with |doi=10.1525/maq.1991.5.3.02a00020 instead.

[30] Millennium Indicators. Mdgs.un.org. Retrieved on 2013-09-29.

[31] Attention: This template ({{cite pmid}}) is deprecated. To cite the publication identified by PMID 7828766, please use {{cite journal}} with |pmid=7828766 instead.

[32] Brown, David (2011-02-28) Child mortality falls more than 40 percent in the past two decades. The Washington Post.

[33] Attention: This template ({{cite pmid}}) is deprecated. To cite the publication identified by PMID 8578873, please use {{cite journal}} with |pmid=8578873 instead.

[34] Definition of data collected in the European Union, see item 8. europa.eu.

[webmd-35] Hendrick, Bill (2009-11-04). "Preemies Raise U.S. Infant Mortality Rate". WebMD. Retrieved 2009-11-04.

[associated_press_11.09-36] Stobbe, Mike (2009-11-03). "Premature births worsen US infant death rate". Associated Press. Retrieved 2009-11-04.

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[67] Sullivan, A., Sheffrin, S. (2003) Economics: Principles in Action, Pearson Prentice Hall, ISBN 0-13-063085-3

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@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 [[File:Mort.svg|thumb|300px|World infant mortality rates in 2008<ref>[http://www.prb.org/DataFinder/Topic/Map.aspx?ind=5&fmt=5&tf=3&sort=Descending&loct=3World Infant Mortality Rates in 2008] [[Population Reference Bureau]]</ref>]]
-'''Infant mortality''' is the death of a child less than one year of age. Childhood [[Death|mortality]] is the death of a child before the child's fifth birthday. National statistics tend to group these two mortality rates together. Globally, ten million infants and children die each year before their fifth birthday. Ninety-nine percent of these deaths occur in [[developing nations]]. Infant mortality takes away society’s potential physical, social, and human capital.
+'''Infant mortality''' is the death of a child less than one year of age. Childhood [[Death|mortality]] is the death of a child before the child's fifth birthday. National statistics tend to group these two mortality rates together. Globally, ten million infants and children die each year before their fifth birthday; 99% of these deaths occur in [[developing nations]]. Infant mortality takes away society’s potential physical, social, and human capital.
-Generally the most common cause worldwide has been [[dehydration]] from [[diarrhea]], a preventable disease; however, a variety of programs combating this problem have decreased the rate of children dying from dehydration. Many factors contribute to infant mortality such as the mother’s level of education, environmental conditions, and political and medical infrastructure. Improving [[sanitation]], access to clean drinking water, [[immunization]] against [[infectious diseases]], and other public health measures could help reduce high rates of infant mortality. The U.S. National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD) has made great strides in lowering U.S. infant mortality rates.<ref>[http://www.nichd.nih.gov NICHD – The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Official Home Page]</ref> Since the institute was created the U.S. infant mortality rate has dropped 70 percent, in part due to their research.
+Generally the most common cause worldwide has been [[dehydration]] from [[diarrhea]], a preventable disease; however, a variety of programs combating this problem have decreased the rate of children dying from dehydration. Many factors contribute to infant mortality such as the mother’s level of education, environmental conditions, and political and medical infrastructure. Improving [[sanitation]], access to clean drinking water, [[immunization]] against [[infectious diseases]], and other public health measures could help reduce high rates of infant mortality. The U.S. National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD) has made great strides in lowering U.S. infant mortality rates.<ref>[http://www.nichd.nih.gov NICHD – The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Official Home Page]. Nichd.nih.gov. Retrieved on 2013-09-29.</ref> Since the institute was created the U.S. infant mortality rate has dropped 70%, in part due to their research.
 ==Infant mortality rate==
-Infant mortality rate (IMR) is the number of deaths of children less than one year of age per 1000 live births. The rate for a given region is the number of children dying under one year of age, divided by the number of live births during the year, multiplied by 1,000.<ref name="Andrews">{{cite journal|last=Andrews|first=K.M.|coauthors=Brouillette, D.B, and Brouillette, R.T.|title=Mortality, Infant|journal=Elsevier Inc}}</ref>
+Infant mortality rate (IMR) is the number of deaths of children less than one year of age per 1000 live births. The rate for a given region is the number of children dying under one year of age, divided by the number of live births during the year, multiplied by 1,000.<ref name="Andrews">{{cite book|author=Andrews, K.M.; Brouillette, D.B and Brouillette, R.T.|title=Encyclopedia of Infant and Early Childhood Development|chapter=Mortality, Infant|year=2008 |pages =343–359|publisher=Elsevier|doi=10.1016/B978-012370877-9.00084-0}}</ref>
 Forms of infant mortality:
@@ Line 14: / Line 14: @@
 == Causes ==
-Some causes of congenital infant mortality are malformations, sudden infant death syndrome, maternal complications during pregnancy, and accidents and unintentional injuries.<ref>http://www.shelbycountychildren.org/infant-mortality-facts.html {{dead link|date=September 2013}}</ref> Environmental and social barriers prevent access to basic medical resources and thus contribute to an increasing infant mortality rate. Ninety-nine percent of infant deaths occur in developing countries, and eighty-six percent of these deaths are due to [[infections]], [[premature births]], complications during delivery, and perinatal [[asphyxia]] and birth injuries.<ref name="Andrews" /> Greatest percentage reduction of infant mortality occurs in countries that already have low rates of infant mortality.<ref name="Bishai">{{cite journal|last=Bishai|first=D|coauthors=Opuni, M., and Poon, A|title=Does the level of infant mortality affect the rate of decline? Time series data from 21 countries|journal=Science Direct|year=2007|volume=5|pages=74–81}}</ref>
+Some causes of congenital infant mortality are malformations, sudden infant death syndrome, maternal complications during pregnancy, and accidents and unintentional injuries.<ref>http://www.shelbycountychildren.org/infant-mortality-facts.html {{dead link|date=September 2013}}</ref> Environmental and social barriers prevent access to basic medical resources and thus contribute to an increasing infant mortality rate; 99% of infant deaths occur in developing countries, and 86% of these deaths are due to [[infections]], [[premature births]], complications during delivery, and perinatal [[asphyxia]] and birth injuries.<ref name="Andrews" /> Greatest percentage reduction of infant mortality occurs in countries that already have low rates of infant mortality.<ref name="Bishai">{{cite pmid|17141591}}</ref>
 Common causes are preventable with low-cost measures. In the United States a primary determinant of infant mortality risk is infant birth weight with lower birth weights increasing the risk of infant mortality. The determinants of low birth weight include socio-economic, psychological, behaviorial and environmental factors.<ref name="ssrn.com">{{cite doi|10.2139/ssrn.2173553 }}</ref>
 ===Medical===
-[[Low birth weight]] makes up sixty to eighty percent of the infant mortality rate in developing countries. [[The New England Journal of Medicine]] stated that “The lowest mortality rates occur among infants weighing 3000 to 3500&nbsp;g. For infants born weighing 2500&nbsp;g or less, the mortality rate rapidly increases with decreasing weight, and most of the infants weighing 1000&nbsp;g or less die. As compared with normal-birth-weight infants, those with low weight at birth are almost 40 times more likely to die in the neonatal period; for infants with very low weight at birth the relative risk of neonatal death is almost 200 times greater.” Infant mortality due to low birth weight is usually a direct cause stemming from other medical complications such as preterm birth, poor maternal nutritional status, lack of [[prenatal care]], maternal sickness during pregnancy, and an unhygienic home environments.<ref name="Andrews" /> Along with birth weight, period of gestation makes up the two most important predictors of and infant's chances of survival and their overall health.<ref name="MacDorman 2009"/>
+[[Low birth weight]] makes up 60–80% of the infant mortality rate in developing countries. [[The New England Journal of Medicine]] stated that “The lowest mortality rates occur among infants weighing 3000 to 3500&nbsp;g. For infants born weighing 2500&nbsp;g or less, the mortality rate rapidly increases with decreasing weight, and most of the infants weighing 1000&nbsp;g or less die. As compared with normal-birth-weight infants, those with low weight at birth are almost 40 times more likely to die in the neonatal period; for infants with very low weight at birth the relative risk of neonatal death is almost 200 times greater.” Infant mortality due to low birth weight is usually a direct cause stemming from other medical complications such as preterm birth, poor maternal nutritional status, lack of [[prenatal care]], maternal sickness during pregnancy, and an unhygienic home environments.<ref name="Andrews" /> Along with birth weight, period of gestation makes up the two most important predictors of and infant's chances of survival and their overall health.<ref name="MacDorman 2009"/>
 According to the New England Journal of Medicine “in the past two decades, the infant mortality rate (deaths under one year of age per thousand live births) in the United States has declined sharply.” Low birth weights from African American mothers remain twice as high as that of white women. LBW may be the leading cause of infant deaths, and it is greatly preventable. Although it is preventable, the solutions may not be the easiest but effective programs to help prevent LBW are a combination of health care, education, environment, mental modification and public policy, influencing a culture supporting lifestyle.
-<ref>[http://www.nationalhealthystart.org/site/assets/docs/Infant%20Mortality%20Low%20Birthweight.pdf Infant Mortality, Low birth Weight and Racial Disparity]. nationalhealthystart.org (2000)</ref> Preterm birth is the leading cause of newborn deaths worldwide.<ref>[http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs363/en/index.html WHO &#124; Preterm birth]</ref> Even though America excels past many other countries in the care and saving of premature infants, the percentage of American woman who deliver prematurely is comparable to those in developing countries. Reasons for this include teenage pregnancy, increase in pregnant mothers over the age of thirty five, increase in the use of in-vitro fertilization which increases the risk of multiple births, obesity and diabetes. Also, women who do not have access to health care are less likely to visit a doctor, therefore increasing their risk of delivering prematurely.<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/03/health/us-lags-in-global-measure-of-preterm-births.html?_r=1& U.S. Lags in Global Measure of Premature Births – NYTimes.com]</ref>
+<ref>[http://www.nationalhealthystart.org/site/assets/docs/Infant%20Mortality%20Low%20Birthweight.pdf Infant Mortality, Low birth Weight and Racial Disparity]. nationalhealthystart.org (2000)</ref> Preterm birth is the leading cause of newborn deaths worldwide.<ref>[http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs363/en/index.html WHO | Preterm birth]. Who.int. Retrieved on 2013-09-29.</ref> Even though America excels past many other countries in the care and saving of premature infants, the percentage of American woman who deliver prematurely is comparable to those in developing countries. Reasons for this include teenage pregnancy, increase in pregnant mothers over the age of thirty five, increase in the use of in-vitro fertilization which increases the risk of multiple births, obesity and diabetes. Also, women who do not have access to health care are less likely to visit a doctor, therefore increasing their risk of delivering prematurely.<ref name=lag/>
 [[Sudden infant death syndrome]] (SIDS) is a significant cause of thousands of infant deaths per year. According to the Mayo Clinic SIDS is the unexplained death, usually during sleep, of a seemingly healthy baby. Although the direct cause of SIDS remains unknown, many doctors believe that there are several factors that put babies at an increased risk of SIDS. Some of these factors include babies sleeping on their stomach, exposure to [[cigarette]] smoke in the womb or after birth, sleeping in bed with parents, premature birth, being a twin or triplet, being born to a teen mother, and also living in poverty settings. Although the cause is unknown and cannot be unexplained, doctors have come to the conclusion that SIDS is most likely to occur between 2 and 4 months and most deaths occur in the winter time. Some precautions that parents may take include making sure baby sleeps on its back, put them to bed in a crib, allow them to sleep in the same room but not the same bed, make sure room temperature isn't too hot, and breastfeed if possible because it reduces upper respiratory infections that influence SIDS. The Mayo Clinic also offers some ways to prevent SIDS"“perhaps the most important way to reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome is to place your baby on his or her back to sleep, on a firm crib mattress covered by a fitted sheet. Nothing else should go in the crib with your baby — no blanket, pillow, bumper pads or toys.”<ref>[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002533/ Sudden Infant Death Syndrom].  National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine. August 2, 2011</ref>
@@ Line 29: / Line 29: @@
 Protein energy [[malnutrition]] and [[micronutrient]] deficiency are two reasons for [[stunted growth]] for children under five years old in the least developed countries. Malnutrition leads to diarrhea and dehydration, and ultimately death. Millions of women in developing countries are stunted due to a history of childhood malnutrition. Women’s bodies are thus underdeveloped, and chances of withstanding giving birth decreases. Due to underdeveloped bodies, the probability of having an obstructed pregnancy increases. Protein-energy deficiency results in low-quality [[breast milk]] that is not as caloric and nutritious.<ref name="Andrews" />
-[[Vitamin A deficiency]] can lead to stunted growth, [[blindness]], and increased mortality due to the lack of [[nutrients]] in the body. Two hundred and fifty million infants are affected by Vitamin A deficiency. Out of the women in developing countries, forty percent have [[iron deficiency anemia]]. Iron deficiency anemia increases maternal and infant mortality rates, chances of [[stillbirth]], cases of low birth weight babies, premature delivery, and probability of fetal [[brain damage]].<ref name="Andrews" /> One way to prevent Vitamin A Deficiency from occurring is to educate the mother on the many benefits of breastfeeding. Breast milk is a natural producer of Vitamin A, therefore supplying the infant with sufficient amounts of Vitamin A while at breastfeeding age.<ref>[http://www.who.int/nutrition/topics/vad/en/ WHO &#124; Micronutrient deficiencies] {{WebCite|url=http://www.webcitation.org/6Ivr6kbmD|date =2013-08-17}}</ref>
+[[Vitamin A deficiency]] can lead to stunted growth, [[blindness]], and increased mortality due to the lack of [[nutrients]] in the body. Two hundred and fifty million infants are affected by Vitamin A deficiency. Out of the women in developing countries, 40% have [[iron deficiency anemia]]. Iron deficiency anemia increases maternal and infant mortality rates, chances of [[stillbirth]], cases of low birth weight babies, premature delivery, and probability of fetal [[brain damage]].<ref name="Andrews" /> One way to prevent Vitamin A Deficiency from occurring is to educate the mother on the many benefits of breastfeeding. Breast milk is a natural producer of Vitamin A, therefore supplying the infant with sufficient amounts of Vitamin A while at breastfeeding age.<ref>[http://www.who.int/nutrition/topics/vad/en/ WHO &#124; Micronutrient deficiencies] {{WebCite|url=http://www.webcitation.org/6Ivr6kbmD|date =2013-08-17}}</ref>
-Seven out of ten childhood deaths are due to infectious diseases- [[acute respiratory infection]], [[diarrhea]], [[measles]], and [[malaria]]. Acute respiratory infection such as [[pneumonia]], [[bronchitis]], and [[bronchiolitis]] account for thirty percent of childhood deaths. Ninety-five percent of pneumonia cases occur in the developing world. Diarrhea is the second largest cause of childhood mortality in the world, while malaria causes eleven percent of childhood deaths. Measles is the fifth largest cause of childhood mortality.<ref name="Andrews" /><ref name="Nussbaum">{{cite book|last=Nussbaum|first=Martha|title=Creating Capabilities|year=2011|publisher=The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press}}</ref> [[Folic acid]] for mothers is one way to combat iron deficiency. A few public health measures used to lower levels of iron deficiency anemia include iodize salt or drinking water, and include vitamin A and multivitamin supplements into a mother’s diet.<ref name="Andrews" /> A deficiency of this vitamin causes certain types of [[anemia]] (low red blood cell count).<ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/20100714151130/http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0000723 Folic Acid]. National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine </ref>
+Seven out of ten childhood deaths are due to infectious diseases- [[acute respiratory infection]], [[diarrhea]], [[measles]], and [[malaria]]. Acute respiratory infection such as [[pneumonia]], [[bronchitis]], and [[bronchiolitis]] account for 30% of childhood deaths; 95% of pneumonia cases occur in the developing world. Diarrhea is the second largest cause of childhood mortality in the world, while malaria causes 11% of childhood deaths. Measles is the fifth largest cause of childhood mortality.<ref name="Andrews" /><ref name="Nussbaum">{{cite book|last=Nussbaum|first=Martha|title=Creating Capabilities|year=2011|publisher=The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press|isbn=0674050541}}</ref> [[Folic acid]] for mothers is one way to combat iron deficiency. A few public health measures used to lower levels of iron deficiency anemia include iodize salt or drinking water, and include vitamin A and multivitamin supplements into a mother’s diet.<ref name="Andrews" /> A deficiency of this vitamin causes certain types of [[anemia]] (low red blood cell count).<ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/20100714151130/http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0000723 Folic Acid]. National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine </ref>
 ===Environmental===
-Infant mortality rate can be a measure of a nation's health and social condition.<ref name="MacDorman 2009">{{cite journal|last=MacDorman|first=M.F.|coauthors=T.J. Mathews|title=The Challenge of Infant Mortality: Have We Reached a Plateau|journal=Public Health Reports|year=2009|volume=124}}</ref><ref name="Gortmaker 1997">{{cite doi|10.1146/annurev.soc.23.1.147 }}</ref> It is a composite of a number of component rates which have their separate relationship with various social factors and can often be seen as an indicator to measure the level of socioeconomic disparity within a country.<ref name="Gortmaker 1997" />
+Infant mortality rate can be a measure of a nation's health and social condition.<ref name="MacDorman 2009">{{cite pmid|19753945}}</ref><ref name="Gortmaker 1997">{{cite doi|10.1146/annurev.soc.23.1.147 }}</ref> It is a composite of a number of component rates which have their separate relationship with various social factors and can often be seen as an indicator to measure the level of socioeconomic disparity within a country.<ref name="Gortmaker 1997" />
 Organic water [[pollution]] is a better indicator of infant mortality than health expenditures per capita. Water contaminated with various [[pathogens]] house a host of [[parasitic]] and [[microbial]] infections. Infectious disease and parasites are carried via [[water pollution]] from animal wastes.<ref name="Jorgenson">{{cite doi|10.1016/j.soscij.2004.01.008}}</ref> Areas of low [[socioeconomic status]] are more prone to inadequate plumbing infrastructure, and poorly maintained facilities.<ref name="Andrews" /> The burning of inefficient fuels doubles the rate of children under 5 years old with acute respiratory tract infections.<ref name="Andrews" /> Climate and geography often play a role in sanitation conditions. For example, the inaccessibility of clean water exacerbates poor sanitation conditions.<ref name="Jorgenson" />
@@ Line 40: / Line 40: @@
 People who live in areas where [[particulate matter]] (PM) air pollution is higher tend to have more health problems across the board. Short term and long term effects of ambient air pollution are associated with an increased mortality rate, including infant mortality. Air pollution is consistently associated with post neonatal mortality due to respiratory effects and sudden infant death syndrome. Specifically, air pollution is highly associated with SIDs in the United States during the post-neonatal stage.<ref>{{cite pmid|18197308}}</ref> High infant mortality is exacerbated because newborns are a vulnerable subgroup that is affected by air pollution.<ref name="Glinianaia">{{cite journal|last=Glinianaia|first=S.V.|coauthors=Judith Rankin, Ruth Bell, Tanja Pless-Molloli, and Denise Howel|title=Does Particulate Air Pollution Contribute to Infant Death? A Systematic Review|journal=Environmental Health Perspectives|year=2004|volume=112|doi=10.1289/ehp.6857|issue=14|pages=1365–71|pmid=15471726|pmc=1247561}}</ref> Newborns who were born into these environments are no exception. Women who are exposed to greater air pollution on a daily basis who are pregnant should be closely watched by their doctors, as well as after the baby is born. Babies who live in areas with less air pollution have a greater chance of living until their first birthday. As expected, babies who live in environments with more air pollution are at greater risk for infant mortality. Areas that have higher air pollution also have a greater chance of having a higher population density, higher crime rates and lower income levels, all of which can lead to higher infant mortality rates.<ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/20111012190945/http://www.nichd.nih.gov/news/resources/advances/2005/infant.cfm Infant Mortality]. [[Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development]]</ref>
-The three key pollutants for infant mortality rates are [[carbon monoxide]], particulate matter less than 10&nbsp;[[µm]] in diameter and [[ozone]]. Particulate matter and ozone have no noticeable affects on infant deaths, but exposure to high levels of carbon monoxide does increase the mortality rates.{{contradiction-inline |reason=Contradicts previous paragraph on particulate pollution. |date=August 2013}} Carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless gas that does great harm especially to infants because of their immature respiratory system.<ref>Benjamin, D.K, (2006). Air Pollution and Infant Mortality. Property and Environmental Research Center.. 24 (4).</ref>
+The three key pollutants for infant mortality rates are [[carbon monoxide]], particulate matter less than 10&nbsp;[[µm]] in diameter and [[ozone]]. Particulate matter and ozone have no noticeable affects on infant deaths, but exposure to high levels of carbon monoxide does increase the mortality rates.{{contradiction-inline |reason=Contradicts previous paragraph on particulate pollution. |date=August 2013}} Carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless gas that does great harm especially to infants because of their immature respiratory system.<ref>Benjamin, D.K, (2006). [http://perc.org/articles/air-pollution-and-infant-mortality Air Pollution and Infant Mortality]. Property and Environmental Research Center Report. 24 (4).</ref>
 Another major pollutant is second hand smoke. This is a pollutant that can have detrimental effects on a fetus. According to the American Journal of Public Health "in 2006, more than 42 000 Americans died of second hand smoke-attributable diseases, including more than 41 000 adults and nearly 900 infants…fully 36% of the infants who died of low birth weight caused by exposure to maternal smoking in utero were Blacks, as were 28% of those dying of respiratory distress syndrome, 25% dying of other respiratory conditions, and 24% dying of sudden infant death syndrome." More importantly, smoking is worse for the fetus The American Journal of Epidemiology also stated that "Compared with nonsmoking women having their first birth, women who smoked less than one pack of cigarettes per day had a 25% greater risk of mortality, and those who smoked one or more packs per day had a 56% greater risk. Among women having their second or higher birth, smokers experienced 30% greater mortality than nonsmokers." Smoking has a direct effect on the fetus and women need to learn this information in order to prevent infant mortality.
@@ Line 49: / Line 49: @@
 The infant mortality rate correlates very strongly with, and is among the best predictors of, state failure.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Gary King|coauthors=Langche Zeng|title=Improving forecasts of state failure|journal=World Politics|volume=53|issue=4|month=July | year=2001|pages=623–658|url=http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/world_politics/v053/53.4king02.pdf|accessdate=2007-05-26|format=PDF|doi=10.1353/wp.2001.0018|authorlink=Gary King (political scientist)}}</ref> IMR is therefore also a useful indicator of a country's level of health or development, and is a component of the [[physical quality of life index]].
-However, the method of calculating IMR often varies widely between countries, and is based on how they define a live birth and how many premature infants are born in the country. Infant mortality rates can be flawed depending on a nations’ live birth criterion, vital registration system, and reporting practices.<ref name="Anthopolos">{{cite journal|last=Anthopolos|first=R|coauthors=Becker, C.M.|title=Global Infant Mortality: Correcting for Undercounting|journal=World Development|year=2009|volume=32|pages=467–481}}</ref> Certain practices of measurements have the potential to be underestimated. Measurements provide a statistical way of measuring the standard of living of residents living in each nation. Increases and decreases of the infant mortality rate reflect social and technical capacities of a nations’ population.<ref name="Bishai" /> The [[World Health Organization]] (WHO) defines a live birth as any born human being who demonstrates independent signs of life, including breathing, heartbeat, umbilical cord pulsation or definite movement of voluntary muscles.<ref>[http://wayback.archive.org/web/20111221191114/http://www.who.int/whosis/indicators/2007MortNeoBoth/en/ WHO &#124; Neonatal mortality rate (per 1000 live births)]</ref> This definition is practised in Austria, for example.<ref>http://www.pflegerecht.at/Druck/Versionen-Berufsrecht/Druckversion-HebG.pdf</ref> In Germany the WHO definition is practised as well but with one little adjustment: the muscle movement is not considered as a sign of life.<ref>[http://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/pstv/__31.html PStV – Einzelnorm]</ref> Many countries, however, including certain European states (e.g. France) and Japan, only count as live births cases where an infant breathes at birth, which makes their reported IMR numbers somewhat lower and raises their rates of perinatal mortality.<ref name="us news">{{cite news|author=Bernadine Healy|title=Behind the Baby Count|publisher=US News & World Report|date=2006-09-24|url=http://health.usnews.com/usnews/health/articles/060924/2healy.htm|accessdate=2007-06-25}}</ref> In the Czech Republic and Bulgaria, for instance, requirements for live birth are even higher.<ref>[http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_OFFPUB/KS-CC-03-005/EN/KS-CC-03-005-EN.PDF Demographic Statistics: Definitions and Methods of Collection in 31 European Countries (by European Communities, 2003)]</ref>
+However, the method of calculating IMR often varies widely between countries, and is based on how they define a live birth and how many premature infants are born in the country. Infant mortality rates can be flawed depending on a nations’ live birth criterion, vital registration system, and reporting practices.<ref name="Anthopolos">{{cite doi|10.1016/j.worlddev.2009.11.013 }}</ref> Certain practices of measurements have the potential to be underestimated. Measurements provide a statistical way of measuring the standard of living of residents living in each nation. Increases and decreases of the infant mortality rate reflect social and technical capacities of a nations’ population.<ref name="Bishai" /> The [[World Health Organization]] (WHO) defines a live birth as any born human being who demonstrates independent signs of life, including breathing, heartbeat, umbilical cord pulsation or definite movement of voluntary muscles.<ref>[http://wayback.archive.org/web/20111221191114/http://www.who.int/whosis/indicators/2007MortNeoBoth/en/ Neonatal mortality rate (per 1000 live births)]. WHO. 2011</ref> This definition is practised in Austria, for example.<ref>http://www.pflegerecht.at/Druck/Versionen-Berufsrecht/Druckversion-HebG.pdf</ref> In Germany the WHO definition is practised as well but with one little adjustment: the muscle movement is not considered as a sign of life.<ref>[http://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/pstv/__31.html PStV – Einzelnorm]. Gesetze-im-internet.de. Retrieved on 2013-09-29.</ref> Many countries, however, including certain European states (e.g. France) and Japan, only count as live births cases where an infant breathes at birth, which makes their reported IMR numbers somewhat lower and raises their rates of perinatal mortality.<ref name="us news">{{cite news|author=Healy, Bernadine |title=Behind the Baby Count|publisher=US News & World Report|date=2006-09-24|url=http://health.usnews.com/usnews/health/articles/060924/2healy.htm|accessdate=2007-06-25}}</ref> In the Czech Republic and Bulgaria, for instance, requirements for live birth are even higher.<ref>[http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_OFFPUB/KS-CC-03-005/EN/KS-CC-03-005-EN.PDF Demographic Statistics: Definitions and Methods of Collection in 31 European Countries (by European Communities, 2003)]. (PDF) . Retrieved on 2013-09-29.</ref>
 Although many countries have vital registration systems and certain reporting practices, there are a great number of inaccuracies, particularly in undeveloped nations, in the statistics of the amount of infants dying. Studies have shown in comparing three information sources: official registries, household surveys, and popular reporters, the “popular death reporters” show the greatest amount of accuracy. Popular death reporters include indigenous midwives, gravediggers, coffin builders, priests, and more—essentially people who knew the most about the child’s death. In developing nations, access to vital registries, and other government run systems pose difficulties for poor families to record births and deaths due to a variety of reasons. These struggles force stress on families, and make them take drastic measures in unofficial death ceremonies for their deceased infants, as well as inaccurately reflect a nations infant mortality rate. Popular death reporters provide information first hand from inside sources gaining reliable facts that: provide a nation with accurate death counts, meaningful causes of deaths that can be measured/studied, and allow a sense of relief and meaning to a child’s death which may give families less pain/grievance.<ref name="Nations"/>
 [[UNICEF]] uses a statistical methodology to account for reporting differences among countries:
-{{Centered pull quote|UNICEF compiles infant mortality country estimates derived from all sources and methods of estimation obtained either from standard reports, direct estimation from micro data sets, or from UNICEF’s yearly exercise. In order to sort out differences between estimates produced from different sources, with different methods, UNICEF developed, in coordination with WHO, the WB and UNSD, an estimation methodology that minimizes the errors embodied in each estimate and harmonize trends along time. Since the estimates are not necessarily the exact values used as input for the model, they are often not recognized as the official IMR estimates used at the country level. However, as mentioned before, these estimates minimize errors and maximize the consistency of trends along time.<ref>[http://mdgs.un.org/unsd/mdg/Metadata.aspx?IndicatorId=0&SeriesId=562. unstats &#124; Millennium Indicators]</ref>}}
+{{Centered pull quote|UNICEF compiles infant mortality country estimates derived from all sources and methods of estimation obtained either from standard reports, direct estimation from micro data sets, or from UNICEF’s yearly exercise. In order to sort out differences between estimates produced from different sources, with different methods, UNICEF developed, in coordination with WHO, the WB and UNSD, an estimation methodology that minimizes the errors embodied in each estimate and harmonize trends along time. Since the estimates are not necessarily the exact values used as input for the model, they are often not recognized as the official IMR estimates used at the country level. However, as mentioned before, these estimates minimize errors and maximize the consistency of trends along time.<ref>[http://mdgs.un.org/unsd/mdg/Metadata.aspx?IndicatorId=0&SeriesId=562 Millennium Indicators]. Mdgs.un.org. Retrieved on 2013-09-29.</ref>}}
-Another challenge to comparability is the practice of counting frail or premature infants who die before the normal due date as [[miscarriage]]s (spontaneous abortions) or those who die during or immediately after childbirth as [[Stillbirth|stillborn]]. Therefore, the quality of a country's documentation of [[perinatal mortality]] can matter greatly to the accuracy of its infant mortality statistics. This point is reinforced by the demographer [[Ansley J. Coale|Ansley Coale]], who finds dubiously high ratios of reported stillbirths to infant deaths in Hong Kong and Japan in the first 24 hours after birth, a pattern that is consistent with the high recorded sex ratios at birth in those countries. It suggests not only that many female infants who die in the first 24 hours are misreported as stillbirths rather than infant deaths, but also that those countries do not follow WHO recommendations for the reporting of live births and infant deaths.<ref>{{cite journal|author=[[Ansley J. Coale]]|coauthors=Judith Banister|month=December | year=1996|title=Five decades of missing females in China|journal=Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society|volume=145|issue=4|pages=421–450|jstor=987286}}</ref>
+Another challenge to comparability is the practice of counting frail or premature infants who die before the normal due date as [[miscarriage]]s (spontaneous abortions) or those who die during or immediately after childbirth as [[Stillbirth|stillborn]]. Therefore, the quality of a country's documentation of [[perinatal mortality]] can matter greatly to the accuracy of its infant mortality statistics. This point is reinforced by the demographer [[Ansley J. Coale|Ansley Coale]], who finds dubiously high ratios of reported stillbirths to infant deaths in Hong Kong and Japan in the first 24 hours after birth, a pattern that is consistent with the high recorded sex ratios at birth in those countries. It suggests not only that many female infants who die in the first 24 hours are misreported as stillbirths rather than infant deaths, but also that those countries do not follow WHO recommendations for the reporting of live births and infant deaths.<ref>{{cite pmid |7828766}}</ref>
 Another seemingly paradoxical finding, is that when countries with poor medical services introduce new medical centers and services, instead of declining, the reported IMRs often increase for a time. This is mainly because improvement in access to medical care is often accompanied by improvement in the registration of births and deaths. Deaths that might have occurred in a remote or rural area, and not been reported to the government, might now be reported by the new medical personnel or facilities. Thus, even if the new health services reduce the actual IMR, the reported IMR may increase.
 Collecting the accurate statistics of infant mortality rate could be an issue in some rural communities in developing countries. In those communities, some other alternative methods for calculating infant mortality rate are emerged, for example, popular death reporting and household survey.<ref name="Nations"/>
-The country-to-country variation in child mortality rates is huge, and growing wider despite the progress. Among the world’s roughly 200 nations, only Somalia showed no decrease in the under-5 mortality rate over the past two decades.The lowest rate in 2011 was in Singapore, which had 2.6 deaths of children under age 5 per 1,000 live births. The highest was in Sierra Leone, which had 185 child deaths per 1,000 births. The global rate is 51 deaths per 1,000 births. For the United States, the rate is eight per 1,000 births.<ref>[http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/child-mortality-falls-more-than-40-percent-in-the-past-two-decades/2012/09/12/8a5bbc68-fd14-11e1-8adc-499661afe377_story.html Child mortality falls more than 40 percent in the past two decades – The Washington Post]</ref>
+The country-to-country variation in child mortality rates is huge, and growing wider despite the progress. Among the world’s roughly 200 nations, only Somalia showed no decrease in the under-5 mortality rate over the past two decades.The lowest rate in 2011 was in Singapore, which had 2.6 deaths of children under age 5 per 1,000 live births. The highest was in Sierra Leone, which had 185 child deaths per 1,000 births. The global rate is 51 deaths per 1,000 births. For the United States, the rate is eight per 1,000 births.<ref>Brown, David (2011-02-28) [http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/child-mortality-falls-more-than-40-percent-in-the-past-two-decades/2012/09/12/8a5bbc68-fd14-11e1-8adc-499661afe377_story.html Child mortality falls more than 40 percent in the past two decades]. The Washington Post.</ref>
 Infant mortality rate (IMR) is not only a group of statistic but instead it is a reflection of the socioeconomic development and effectively represents the presence of medical services in the countries. IMR is an effective resource for the health department to make decision on medical resources reallocation. IMR also formulates the global health strategies and help evaluate the program success. The existence of IMR helps solve the inadequacies of the other vital statistic systems for global health as most of the vital statistic systems usually neglect the infant mortality statistic number from the poor. There are certain amounts of unrecorded infant deaths in the rural area as they do not have information about infant mortality rate statistic or do not have the concept about reporting early infant death.<ref name="Nations"/>
 ===Europe and America===
-The exclusion of any high-risk infants from the denominator or numerator in reported IMRs can be problematic for comparisons. Many countries, including the United States, Sweden and Germany, count an infant exhibiting any sign of life as alive, no matter the month of gestation or the size, but according to United States some other countries differ in these practices. All of the countries named adopted the WHO definitions in the late 1980s or early 1990s,<ref>Gabriel Duc, "The crucial role of definition in perinatal epidemiology," ''Sozial- und Präventivmedizin/Social and Preventive Medicine'', Vol. 40, No. 6 (November 1995): 357–360.</ref> which are used throughout the European Union.<ref>[http://ec.europa.eu/health/ph_projects/2001/monitoring/fp_monitoring_2001_a1_frep_01_en.pdf Definition of data collected in the European Union, see item 8 ]</ref> However, in 2009, the US CDC issued a report that stated that the American rates of infant mortality were affected by the United States' high rates of premature babies compared to European countries. It also outlined the differences in reporting requirements between the United States and Europe, noting that France, the Czech Republic, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Poland do not report all live births of babies under 500&nbsp;g and/or 22 weeks of gestation.<ref name="webmd">{{cite news|author=Bill Hendrick|title=Preemies Raise U.S. Infant Mortality Rate|publisher=WebMD|date=2009-11-04|url=http://www.webmd.com/baby/news/20091103/preemies-raise-us-infant-mortality-rate|accessdate=2009-11-04}}</ref><ref name="associated press 11.09">{{cite news|author=Mike Stobbe|title=Premature births worsen US infant death rate|publisher=[[Associated Press]]|date=2009-11-03|url=http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gmPQMZ-AHwLe9mBCuGaXWve3F28wD9BO6LDG1|accessdate=2009-11-04}}</ref><ref name="cdc report">{{cite web|author=CDC|title=Behind International Rankings of Infant Mortality: How the United States Compares with Europe|publisher=Centers for Disease Control|date=2009-11|url=http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db23.htm|accessdate=2009-11-04| archiveurl = http://www.webcitation.org/618Z7URvG | archivedate = 2011-08-22| deadurl=no}}</ref>
+The exclusion of any high-risk infants from the denominator or numerator in reported IMRs can be problematic for comparisons. Many countries, including the United States, Sweden and Germany, count an infant exhibiting any sign of life as alive, no matter the month of gestation or the size, but according to United States some other countries differ in these practices. All of the countries named adopted the WHO definitions in the late 1980s or early 1990s,<ref>{{cite pmid|8578873}}</ref> which are used throughout the European Union.<ref>[http://ec.europa.eu/health/ph_projects/2001/monitoring/fp_monitoring_2001_a1_frep_01_en.pdf Definition of data collected in the European Union, see item 8]. europa.eu.</ref> However, in 2009, the US CDC issued a report that stated that the American rates of infant mortality were affected by the United States' high rates of premature babies compared to European countries. It also outlined the differences in reporting requirements between the United States and Europe, noting that France, the Czech Republic, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Poland do not report all live births of babies under 500&nbsp;g and/or 22 weeks of gestation.<ref name="webmd">{{cite news|author=Hendrick, Bill |title=Preemies Raise U.S. Infant Mortality Rate|publisher=WebMD|date=2009-11-04|url=http://www.webmd.com/baby/news/20091103/preemies-raise-us-infant-mortality-rate|accessdate=2009-11-04}}</ref><ref name="associated press 11.09">{{cite news|author=Stobbe, Mike |title=Premature births worsen US infant death rate|agency=Associated Press|date=2009-11-03|url=http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gmPQMZ-AHwLe9mBCuGaXWve3F28wD9BO6LDG1|accessdate=2009-11-04}}</ref><ref name="cdc report">{{cite web|author=CDC|title=Behind International Rankings of Infant Mortality: How the United States Compares with Europe|publisher=Centers for Disease Control|date=2009-11|url=http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db23.htm|accessdate=2009-11-04| archiveurl = http://www.webcitation.org/618Z7URvG | archivedate = 2011-08-22| deadurl=no}}</ref>
 The report concluded, however, that the differences in reporting are unlikely to be the primary explanation for the United States’ relatively low international ranking.<ref name="cdc">{{cite web|author=CDC|title=Behind International Rankings of Infant Mortality: How the United States Compares with Europe|publisher=Centers for Disease Control|date=2009-11|url=http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db23.htm#summary|accessdate=2009-11-05}}</ref>
 ===Russia===
-Until the 1990s, Russia and the Soviet Union did not count, as a live birth or as an infant death, extremely premature infants (less than 1,000&nbsp;g, less than 28 weeks gestational age, or less than 35&nbsp;cm in length) that were born alive (breathed, had a heartbeat, or exhibited voluntary muscle movement) but failed to survive for at least seven days.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Barbara A. Anderson|coauthors=Brian D. Silver|date=December 1986|title=Infant Mortality in the Soviet Union: regional differences and measurement issues|journal=Population and Development Review|volume=12|issue=4|pages=705–737|doi=10.2307/1973432|publisher=Population and Development Review, Vol. 12, No. 4|jstor=1973432}}</ref> Although such extremely premature infants typically accounted for only about 0.5% of all live-born children, their exclusion from both the numerator and the denominator in the reported IMR led to an estimated 22%–25% lower reported IMR.<ref>In 1990, the Baltic states moved to the WHO standard definition; in 1993 Russia also moved to this definition.</ref> In some cases, too, perhaps because hospitals or regional health departments were held accountable for lowering the IMR in their [[Catchment area (human geography)|catchment area]], infant deaths that occurred in the 12th month were "transferred" statistically to the 13th month (i.e., the second year of life), and thus no longer classified as an infant death.<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.2307/1532733|author=Alain Blum|coauthors=Roland Pressat|title=Une nouvelle table de mortalité pour l'URSS (1984–1985)|journal=Population|language=French|volume=42|issue=6|date=November–December 1987|pages=843–862|jstor=1532733}} | {{cite book|author=N. Yu. Ksenofontova|year=1994|chapter=Trends in infant mortality in the USSR|editor=W. Lutz; S. Scherbov; A. Volkov (eds.)|title=Demographic Trends and Patterns in the Soviet Union before 1991|location=London|publisher=Routledge|pages=359–378}}</ref>
+Until the 1990s, Russia and the Soviet Union did not count, as a live birth or as an infant death, extremely premature infants (less than 1,000&nbsp;g, less than 28 weeks gestational age, or less than 35&nbsp;cm in length) that were born alive (breathed, had a heartbeat, or exhibited voluntary muscle movement) but failed to survive for at least seven days.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Barbara A. Anderson|coauthors=Brian D. Silver|date=December 1986|title=Infant Mortality in the Soviet Union: regional differences and measurement issues|journal=Population and Development Review|volume=12|issue=4|pages=705–737|doi=10.2307/1973432|jstor=1973432}}</ref> Although such extremely premature infants typically accounted for only about 0.5% of all live-born children, their exclusion from both the numerator and the denominator in the reported IMR led to an estimated 22%–25% lower reported IMR.<ref>In 1990, the Baltic states moved to the WHO standard definition; in 1993 Russia also moved to this definition.</ref> In some cases, too, perhaps because hospitals or regional health departments were held accountable for lowering the IMR in their [[Catchment area (human geography)|catchment area]], infant deaths that occurred in the 12th month were "transferred" statistically to the 13th month (i.e., the second year of life), and thus no longer classified as an infant death.<ref>{{cite doi|10.2307/1532733}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=N. Yu. Ksenofontova|year=1994|chapter=Trends in infant mortality in the USSR|editor=W. Lutz; S. Scherbov; A. Volkov|title=Demographic Trends and Patterns in the Soviet Union before 1991|location=London|publisher=Routledge|pages=359–378|isbn=0415101948}}</ref>
 ===Brazil===
@@ Line 82: / Line 82: @@
 ===Socio-economic factors===
-[[Social class]] is a major factor in infant mortality, both historically and today. Over the period between 1912 and 1915, the Children’s Bureau examined data across eight cities and nearly 23,000 live births. They discovered that lower [[incomes]] tend to [[correlate]] with higher infant mortality. If the father had no income, the rate of infant mortality was 357% more than that for the highest income earners ($1,250+). As well, differences between [[race (classification of humans)|races]] were apparent during this time period. African-American mothers experience an infant mortality at a rate 44% higher than average,<ref name="ReferenceA">http://www.nber.org/papers/w16133.pdf</ref> however, research indicates that socio-economic factors do not totally account for the racial disparities in infant mortality.<ref name="ssrn.com"/>
+[[Social class]] is a major factor in infant mortality, both historically and today. Over the period between 1912 and 1915, the Children’s Bureau examined data across eight cities and nearly 23,000 live births. They discovered that lower [[incomes]] tend to [[correlate]] with higher infant mortality. If the father had no income, the rate of infant mortality was 357% more than that for the highest income earners ($1,250+). As well, differences between [[race (classification of humans)|races]] were apparent during this time period. African-American mothers experience an infant mortality at a rate 44% higher than average,<ref name="ReferenceA">Haines, Michael R. [http://www.nber.org/papers/w16133.pdf Inequality and Infant and Childhood Mortality in the United States in the Twentieth Century]. NBER Working Paper No. 16133, Issued in June 2010</ref> however, research indicates that socio-economic factors do not totally account for the racial disparities in infant mortality.<ref name="ssrn.com"/>
-While infant mortality is normally negatively correlated with GDP, there may indeed be some opposing short-term effects to a recession. A recent study by The Economist shows that economic slowdowns reduce the amount of air pollution, which results in a lower infant mortality rate. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, the recession’s impact on air quality is estimated to have saved around 1,300 US babies.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://web.archive.org/web/20090725034036/http://www.economist.com/research/articlesBySubject/displaystory.cfm?subjectid=7933604&story_id=13764868 | work=The Economist | title=A recession breathes life | date=2009-06-01}}</ref> It is only during deep recessions that infant mortality increases. According to Norbert Schady and Marc-Francois Smitz, recessions where GDP per capita drops by 15% or more have a negative impact on infant mortality.<ref>Schady, Norbert and Smitz, Marc (August 2009) [http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTAFRICA/Resources/SchadySmitz_080509.pdf Aggregate Economic Shocks and Infant Mortality: New Evidence for Middle-Income Countries]. The World Bank</ref>
+While infant mortality is normally negatively correlated with GDP, there may indeed be some opposing short-term effects to a recession. A recent study by The Economist shows that economic slowdowns reduce the amount of air pollution, which results in a lower infant mortality rate. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, the recession’s impact on air quality is estimated to have saved around 1,300 US babies.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.economist.com/research/articlesBySubject/displaystory.cfm?subjectid=7933604&story_id=13764868 | archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20090725034036/http://www.economist.com/research/articlesBySubject/displaystory.cfm?subjectid=7933604&story_id=13764868 | archivedate=2009-07-25 | work=The Economist | title=A recession breathes life | date=2009-06-01}}</ref> It is only during deep recessions that infant mortality increases. According to Norbert Schady and Marc-Francois Smitz, recessions where GDP per capita drops by 15% or more have a negative impact on infant mortality.<ref>Schady, Norbert and Smitz, Marc (August 2009) [http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTAFRICA/Resources/SchadySmitz_080509.pdf Aggregate Economic Shocks and Infant Mortality: New Evidence for Middle-Income Countries]. The World Bank</ref>
 Social class dictates which medical services are available to an individual and usually, the various levels within the socioeconomic hierarchy receive different quality of medical services. Disparities due to [[socioeconomic]] factors have been exacerbated by advances of [[technology]] in the medical field. Developed countries, most notably the United States, have seen a dichotomization from technological advances. Those living in poverty cannot afford medical advanced resources which leads to an increased chance of infant mortality.<ref name="Gortmaker 1997"/>
@@ Line 166: / Line 166: @@
 Developing countries suffer from a lack of access to affordable and professional health care resources, and skilled personnel during deliveries.<ref name="Andrews" /><ref name="Farahani" /> Countries with histories of extreme [[poverty]] also have a pattern of epidemics, endemic infectious diseases, and low levels of access to maternal and child healthcare.<ref name="Shandra">{{cite pmid|15110423}}</ref>
-Some people believe that vaccinations given to infants account for some deaths in infants relating to SIDS. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that infants need multiple doses of vaccines such as Diphtheria-Tetanus-acellular Pertussis, Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) vaccine, Hepatitis B (HepB) vaccine, Inacticated Polio vaccine (IPV), and Pneumococus vaccine (PCV). Many people believe giving infants these vaccines increase the risk of SIDS. Research was conducted by the Immuniation Safety Review Committee concluded that there is no relationship between these vaccines and risk of SIDS in infants. This tells us that not only is it extremely necessary for every child to get these vaccines to prevent serious diseases, but there is no reason to believe that if your child does receive an immunization that it will have any effect on their risk of SIDS.<ref>http://www.sids.org/nmontharticle.htm</ref>
+Some people believe that vaccinations given to infants account for some deaths in infants relating to SIDS. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that infants need multiple doses of vaccines such as Diphtheria-Tetanus-acellular Pertussis, Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) vaccine, Hepatitis B (HepB) vaccine, Inacticated Polio vaccine (IPV), and Pneumococus vaccine (PCV). Many people believe giving infants these vaccines increase the risk of SIDS. Research was conducted by the Immuniation Safety Review Committee concluded that there is no relationship between these vaccines and risk of SIDS in infants. This tells us that not only is it extremely necessary for every child to get these vaccines to prevent serious diseases, but there is no reason to believe that if your child does receive an immunization that it will have any effect on their risk of SIDS.<ref>Stratton, Kathleen; Almario, Donna A.; Wizemann, Theresa M. and McCormick, Marie C. (2003) [http://www.sids.org/nmontharticle.htm Immunization Safety Review: Vaccinations and Sudden Unexpected Death in Infancy]. Institute of Medicine, Immunization Safety Review Committee, Board of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention.</ref>
 ===Economics===
@@ Line 182: / Line 182: @@
 Another cultural reason for infant mortality, such as what is happening in Ghana, is that "besides the obvious, like rutted roads, there are prejudices against wives or newborns leaving the house." <ref>McNeil, D. (October 29, 2012) [http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/30/health/gates-foundation-backs-hospital-transportation-for-expectant-mothers.html?ref=infantmortality Ghana: A grant meant to curb infant mortality focuses on getting mothers to the hospital]. New York Times</ref> Because of this it is making it even more difficult for the women and newborns to get the treatment that is available to them and that is needed.
-Cultural influences and lifestyle habits in the United States can account for some deaths in infants throughout the years. It has been reported that cultures other than white have an increased chance of experiencing infant mortality. According to the Journal of the American Medical Association “the post neonatal mortality risk (28 to 364 days) was highest among continental Puerto Ricans” compared to babies of the non-Hispanic race. Examples of this include teenage pregnancy, obesity, diabetes and smoking. All are possible causes of premature births, which is the second highest cause of infant mortality.<ref>McNeil, D. (May 2, 2012) [http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/03/health/us-lags-in-global-measure-of-preterm-births.html U.S. Lags in Global Measure of Premature Births]. New York Times</ref> Ethnic differences experienced in the United States are accompanied by higher prevalence of behavioral risk factors and sociodemographic challenges that each ethnic group faces.<ref name="MacDorman 2009"/>
+Cultural influences and lifestyle habits in the United States can account for some deaths in infants throughout the years. It has been reported that cultures other than white have an increased chance of experiencing infant mortality. According to the Journal of the American Medical Association “the post neonatal mortality risk (28 to 364 days) was highest among continental Puerto Ricans” compared to babies of the non-Hispanic race. Examples of this include teenage pregnancy, obesity, diabetes and smoking. All are possible causes of premature births, which is the second highest cause of infant mortality.<ref name=lag>McNeil, D. (May 2, 2012) [http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/03/health/us-lags-in-global-measure-of-preterm-births.html U.S. Lags in Global Measure of Premature Births]. New York Times</ref> Ethnic differences experienced in the United States are accompanied by higher prevalence of behavioral risk factors and sociodemographic challenges that each ethnic group faces.<ref name="MacDorman 2009"/>
 ====Gender favoritism====
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 ====Birth space====
-Birth space is the time between births. Births spaced at least 3 years apart from one another are associated with the lowest rate of mortality. The longer the birth space, the lower the risk for having any birthing complications, and infant, childhood and maternal mortality.<ref name="Norton" /><ref name="Rutstein">{{cite pmid|15820369}}</ref> Higher rates of pre-term births, and low birth weight are associated with birth to conception intervals of less than 6 months and abortion to pregnancy interval of less than 6 months. Shorter birth space increases chances of [[chronic (medicine)]] and general under-nutrition. Fifty-seven percent of women in 55 developing countries reported birth spaces shorter than three years; 26% report birth spacing of less than two years. Only 20% of post-partum women report wanting another birth within 2 years; however, only 40% are taking necessary steps such as family planning to achieve the birth intervals they want.<ref name="Norton" />
+Birth space is the time between births. Births spaced at least 3 years apart from one another are associated with the lowest rate of mortality. The longer the birth space, the lower the risk for having any birthing complications, and infant, childhood and maternal mortality.<ref name="Norton" /><ref name="Rutstein">{{cite pmid|15820369}}</ref> Higher rates of pre-term births, and low birth weight are associated with birth to conception intervals of less than 6 months and abortion to pregnancy interval of less than 6 months. Shorter birth space increases chances of [[chronic (medicine)]] and general under-nutrition; 57% of women in 55 developing countries reported birth spaces shorter than three years; 26% report birth spacing of less than two years. Only 20% of post-partum women report wanting another birth within 2 years; however, only 40% are taking necessary steps such as family planning to achieve the birth intervals they want.<ref name="Norton" />
 Unplanned pregnancies and birth intervals of less than twenty-four months are known to correlate with low birth weights and delivery complications. Also, women who are already small in stature tend to deliver smaller than average babies, perpetuating a cycle of being [[underweight]].<ref name="Andrews" /><ref name="norton2005">{{cite pmid|15820364}}</ref><ref name="Rutstein" />
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 {{Table of global infant mortality rates}}
 {{See also|List of countries by infant mortality rate}}
-For the world, and for both less developed countries (LDCs) and more developed countries (MDCs), IMR declined significantly between 1960 and 2001. According to the [[Save the Children State of the World's Mothers report|State of the World's Mothers report]] by [[Save the Children]], the world IMR declined from 126 in 1960 to 57 in 2001.<ref>[http://www.unicef.org/sowc03/tables/table1.html UNICEF, State of the World's Children 2003 infant mortality table]</ref>
+For the world, and for both less developed countries (LDCs) and more developed countries (MDCs), IMR declined significantly between 1960 and 2001. According to the [[Save the Children State of the World's Mothers report|State of the World's Mothers report]] by [[Save the Children]], the world IMR declined from 126 in 1960 to 57 in 2001.<ref>[http://www.unicef.org/sowc03/tables/table1.html UNICEF, State of the World's Children 2003 infant mortality table]. Unicef.org. Retrieved on 2013-09-29.</ref>
 However, IMR was, and remains, higher in LDCs. In 2001, the IMR for LDCs (91) was about 10 times as large as it was for MDCs (8). On average, for LDCs, the IMR is 17 times as higher than that of MDCs. Also, while both LDCs and MDCs made significant reductions in infant mortality rates, reductions among less developed countries are, on average, much less than those among the more developed countries.
@@ Line 238: / Line 238: @@
 ===In the United States===
-Several reports state that infant mortality rate in the United States is significantly higher than in other developed nations.<ref>Osel, J.D. (2008) [http://ssrn.com/abstract=2173553 Being (Born) Black in America: Perceived Discrimination & African-American Infant Mortality], The Evergreen State College Symposium on Psychoneuroimmunology, Social Science Research Network.</ref><ref>{{cite doi|10.1371/journal.pmed.1001080}}</ref><ref>{{cite doi|10.1001/jama.284.4.483}}</ref>
+Several reports state that infant mortality rate in the United States is significantly higher than in other developed nations.<ref name="ssrn.com"/><ref>{{cite doi|10.1371/journal.pmed.1001080}}</ref><ref>{{cite doi|10.1001/jama.284.4.483}}</ref>
-In the 1850s, the infant mortality rate in the United States was estimated at 216.8 per 1,000 babies born for whites and 340.0 per 1,000 for African Americans, but rates have significantly declined in the West in modern times. This declining rate has been mainly due to modern improvements in basic health care, technology, and medical advances.<ref>Sullivan, A., Sheffrin, S. (2003) Economics: Principles in Action, Pearson Prentice Hall, IBSN: 0-13-063085-3</ref> In the last three decades, infant mortality overall has also decreased considerably. In the last century, the infant mortality rate has decreased by ninety-three percent.<ref name="MacDorman 2009"/> Overall, the rates have decreased drastically from 20 deaths in 1970 to 6.9 deaths in 2003 (per every 1000 live births). In 2003, the leading causes of infant mortality in the United States were congenital anomalies, disorders related to immaturity, SIDS, and maternal complications. Babies born with low birth weight increased to 8.1 percent while cigarette smoking during pregnancy declined to 10.2 percent. This reflected the amount of low birth weights concluding that 12.4 percent of births from smokers were low birth weights opposing to 7.7 percent of such births from non-smokers.<ref name="hhs.gov">[http://www.hhs.gov/news/factsheet/infant.html Preventing Infant Mortality]. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (Jan 13, 2006).</ref> According to the New York Times “the main reason for the high rate is preterm delivery, and there was a 10 percent increase in such births from 2000 to 2006”.
+In the 1850s, the infant mortality rate in the United States was estimated at 216.8 per 1,000 babies born for whites and 340.0 per 1,000 for African Americans, but rates have significantly declined in the West in modern times. This declining rate has been mainly due to modern improvements in basic health care, technology, and medical advances.<ref>Sullivan, A., Sheffrin, S. (2003) Economics: Principles in Action, Pearson Prentice Hall, ISBN 0-13-063085-3</ref> In the last three decades, infant mortality overall has also decreased considerably. In the last century, the infant mortality rate has decreased by 93%.<ref name="MacDorman 2009"/> Overall, the rates have decreased drastically from 20 deaths in 1970 to 6.9 deaths in 2003 (per every 1000 live births). In 2003, the leading causes of infant mortality in the United States were congenital anomalies, disorders related to immaturity, SIDS, and maternal complications. Babies born with low birth weight increased to 8.1% while cigarette smoking during pregnancy declined to 10.2%. This reflected the amount of low birth weights concluding that 12.4% of births from smokers were low birth weights opposing to 7.7% of such births from non-smokers.<ref name="hhs.gov">[http://www.hhs.gov/news/factsheet/infant.html Preventing Infant Mortality]. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (Jan 13, 2006).</ref> According to the New York Times “the main reason for the high rate is preterm delivery, and there was a 10% increase in such births from 2000 to 2006”.
-The vast majority of research conducted in the late 20th and early 21st century indicates that African-American infants are more than twice as likely to die in their first year of life than are white infants. Contemporary research findings have demonstrated that nationwide racial disparities in infant mortality are linked to the experiential state of the mother and that these disparities cannot be totally accounted for by socio-economic, behavioral or genetic factors.<ref>Osel, J.D. (2008) [http://ssrn.com/abstract=2173553 Being (Born) Black in America: Perceived Discrimination & African-American Infant Mortality], The Evergreen State College Symposium on Psychoneuroimmunology, Social Science Research Network, p. 8</ref> A study in North Carolina, for example, concluded that "white women who did not complete high school have a lower infant mortality rate than black college graduates.”<ref>{{cite pmid|15284044}}</ref> According to Mustillo's CARDIA (Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults) study "self reported experiences of racial discrimination were associated with pre-term and low-birthweight deliveries, and such experiences may contribute to black-white disparities in prenatal outcomes.”<ref>{{cite pmid|15569964}}</ref> Likewise, dozens of population-based studies indicate that "the subjective, or perceived experience of racial discrimination is strongly associated with an increased risk of infant death and with poor health prospects for future generations of African Americans."<ref>Osel, J.D. (2008) [http://ssrn.com/abstract=2173553 Being (Born) Black in America: Perceived Discrimination & African-American Infant Mortality], The Evergreen State College Symposium on Psychoneuroimmunology, Social Science Research Network, p. 6.</ref>
+The vast majority of research conducted in the late 20th and early 21st century indicates that African-American infants are more than twice as likely to die in their first year of life than are white infants. Contemporary research findings have demonstrated that nationwide racial disparities in infant mortality are linked to the experiential state of the mother and that these disparities cannot be totally accounted for by socio-economic, behavioral or genetic factors.<ref name="ssrn.com"/> A study in North Carolina, for example, concluded that "white women who did not complete high school have a lower infant mortality rate than black college graduates.”<ref>{{cite pmid|15284044}}</ref> According to Mustillo's CARDIA (Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults) study "self reported experiences of racial discrimination were associated with pre-term and low-birthweight deliveries, and such experiences may contribute to black-white disparities in prenatal outcomes.”<ref>{{cite pmid|15569964}}</ref> Likewise, dozens of population-based studies indicate that "the subjective, or perceived experience of racial discrimination is strongly associated with an increased risk of infant death and with poor health prospects for future generations of African Americans."<ref name="ssrn.com"/>
 ==Prevention and intervention==
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 * [http://www.who.int/healthinfo/statistics/indneonatalmortality/en/index.html World Health Statistics – Neonatal mortality rate (per 1000 live births)]
 * [http://www.borninbradford.nhs.uk Born in Bradford] – a 2006 UK-based research cohort study investigating the causes of infant mortality and low birth rate in Bradford, UK.
-* [http://ssrn.com/abstract=2173553 Being (Born) Black in America: Perceived Discrimination & African American Infant Mortality], from [[The Evergreen State College]] Symposium on Psychoneuroimmunology
 * [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1448603/ Very low birthweight in African American infants: The role of maternal exposure to interpersonal racial discrimination], from ''[[American Journal of Public Health]]'', 94, p.&nbsp;2132–2138.
 * [http://www.savethechildren.org/publications/SOWM_2006_final.pdf?stationpub=000000&ArticleID=&NewsID= State of the World's Mothers 2006] Up to date 2006 analysis of infant mortality rates published by Save the Children.