Major Causes of Infant Mortality Rate in Bangladesh

Morbidity directs to the state of being diseased or unhealthy within a population.

What is Infant Mortality Rate (IMR)?

The infant mortality rate is defined as the ratio of the no. of deaths under one year of age in an area during a year to the no. of live births in the same year and same area. The ratio is multiplied by 1000.

Causes of Child Death or Infant Mortality in Bangladesh:

There are some major reasons for the infant mortality rate in Bangladesh, those are pointed out below:

Neonatal Mortality (0-4 Weeks):
It includes-

1. Low birth weight,
2. Hemolytic disease of newborn,
3. Birth injury and difficult labor,
4. Acute respiratory infection (ARI),
5. Measles,
6. Congenital anomalies,
7. Septicemia,
8. Malnutrition,
9. Conditions of placenta and cord,
10. Diarrheal disease,
11. Tetanus,
12. Whooping cough,
13. Vitamin deficiency,
14. Anemia.

Post Neonatal Mortality (1-12 Months):
It includes-

1. Acute respiratory infection (ARI),
2. Diarrheal disease,
3. Malnutrition,
4. Another communicable disease,
5. Accidents,
6. Congenital anomalies.

Factors associated with infant mortality and morbidity has discussed in the following:

It includes-

1. Birth weight: Babies of low birth weight (under 2.5kg) and high birth weight (over 4kg) are at special risk.
2. Age of mother: When the mother is either very young (below the age of 19 years) or relatively older (over 30years) then the possibility of Infant mortality rates (IMR) is greater.
3. Birth order: After the third birth, the risk of infant mortality escalates.
4. Birth spacing,
5. Multiple births,
6. Family size,
7. High fertility.

b. Economic Factors:
Poor economic status.

c. Cultural and Social Factors: 

1. Early marriage: The newborn baby of the teenage mother has the maximum risk for neonatal and post-neonatal mortality.
2. Broken families: Infant mortality tends to be high where the mother or father has died or separated.
3. Breastfeeding,
4. Sex of the child,
5. Religion and caste,
6. Quality of mothering,
7. Brutal habits and customs,
8. Maternal education,
9. Bad environmental sanitation,
10. Illegitimacy,
11. Quality of health care,
12. The indigenous dai.

More questions related to this article:

1. What is morbidity?
2. What is maternal morbidity?
3. What is the infant mortality rate?
4. What are the causes of infant mortality and morbidity?
5. What are the causes of the infant mortality rate (IMR)?
6. What are the causes of the high infant mortality rate in Bangladesh?
7. What is the leading cause of infant mortality?
8. What causes death in newborns?
9. What are the risk factors associated with infant mortality and morbidity?