Determinants of infant and child mortality in rural Haryana

To identify the individual and household level variables associated with increased risk of mortality, 159 infant and 50 child deaths (cases) and equal number of age matched live infants and children (controls) and their families were studied in a rural area of Haryana. The social, economic, educational and environmental characteristics of the case and control families were similar. Increased risk of infant and child mortality was associated with maternal age less than 20 and more than 30 years, birth order 4th or higher, unclean cord care at the time of child birth, failure of breast feeding during the first 3 months of age, lack of immunizations, and previous infant or child death(s) in the family (Odds ratio greater than 2; P less than 0.05-0.01 by X2 test). An emphasis on the interventions directed at control of the above mentioned variables may prove most helpful in reducing infant and child mortality in a rural area.