Human reproduction in Bangladesh: a microanalytic simulation model

"This paper presents a microanalytic stochastic model of human reproduction with special features for use in examining reproduction in high mortality populations. The model builds on prior work by including (a) a beta distribution for fecundability, permitting variations between women and during a woman's childbearing years, (b) fetal deaths and stillbirths that vary with a woman's age, and (c) sterility that varies as a function of two random probability distributions. New to this model is inclusion of a Weibull survival function for infant and child mortality and a model schedule of postpartum amenorrhoea that depends on the length of breastfeeding." Consideration is given to the interaction of breast-feeding and early mortality and their effects on human reproduction. "Input parameters are selected for the population of Bangladesh, and initial results from a Monte Carlo simulation, in which age at marriage varies, are given."