[Infant mortality and its causes in a sub-district of the Ivory Coast]

The authors studied the infant mortality, between 0 and 30 months of age, in a sub-district in an eastern part of Ivory Coast with a population of 240,000 inhabitants. They recorded 103 deaths, i.e. an infant mortality rate of 29,4 p.c.. Tetanus is the main factor in 10 cases, 8 of them being neonatal. These deaths are caused by the lack of care at the umbilical cord, but not by the lack of medical infrastructure. Other causes are malaria (21), undernutrition (12), meningitidis (10), diarrhea (9), pneumopathy (7), endogenous and obstetrical causes (24).