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Infant Mortality

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Encyclopedia of Behavioral Medicine
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Synonyms

Neonatal mortality

Definition

Infant mortality rate is the number of infant deaths, defined as children under the age of 1 year old, per 1000 live births in a given year. Infant mortality is used as a major health indicator globally because it is associated with numerous factors that determine a country’s overall level of health that include maternal health, prenatal care access, healthcare system quality and access, public health practices, and socioeconomic conditions.

The under-five mortality rate is the probability of a child born in a specific year or period dying before the age of five, expressed as a number per 1000 live births. It is another indicator used to measure the health status of a country. The World Health Organization (WHO) uses 17 sustainable development goals (SDG) and 169 targets to set forth an agenda to address broad socioeconomic and environmental issues including to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages. By 2030, the SDGs aim...

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References and Further Readings

  • Denburg, A., & Daneman, D. (2010). The link between social inequality and child health outcomes. Healthcare Quarterly, 14, 21–31.

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  • Infant Mortality. Office of minority health and disparities. Retrieved 1 Nov 2016., from http://www.minorityhealth.hhs.gov/omh/find.aspx

  • Rajaratnam, J. K., Marcus, J. R., Flaxman, A. D., Wang, H., Levin-Rector, A., Dwyer, L., et al. (2010). Neonatal, postneonatal, childhood, and under-5 mortality for 187 countries, 1970-2010: A systematic analysis of progress towards Millennium Development Goal 4. The Lancet, 375, 1988–2008.

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  • Wong, D., Hockenberry, M., Wilson, D., Perry, S., & Lowdermilk, D. (2006). Maternal child nursing care (3rd ed.). St Louis: Mosby Elsevier.

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  • World Healh Organization. Sustainable development goals (SDGs). Retrieved 1 Nov 2016., from http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/videos/

  • World Health Organization. (2010). World health statistics 2010. Geneva: World Health Organization.

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Correspondence to Linda C. Baumann .

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Baumann, L.C., Ylinen, A. (2017). Infant Mortality. In: Gellman, M., Turner, J. (eds) Encyclopedia of Behavioral Medicine. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6439-6_119-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6439-6_119-2

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