Although Brazil has reduced social, economic and health indicators disparities in the last decade, intra- and inter-regional differences in child mortality rates (CMR) persist in regions such as the state capital of Mato Grosso. This population-based study aimed to investigate factors associated with child mortality in five cohorts of live births (LB) of mothers living in Cuiabá (MT), Brazil, 2...

A recent UNICEF report Committing to Child Survival: A Promise Renewed Progress Report 2013 presents a comprehensive analysis of levels and trends in child mortality and progress towards MDG 4. The global under-five mortality rate has been cut nearly in half (47%) since 1990. However, during this same period, 216 million children are estimated to have died before their fifth birthday. Most of t...

background: the present study was conducted to assess the trend of geographical disparities in child and maternal mortality rates in 20 districts of east azerbaijan, in the northwest of iran, between 1999 and 2013.   methods: data on to health indicators between 1999 and 2013, extracted from population registry panels (zij), was made available for the study by the east azerbaijan health center....

BACKGROUND Thailand has achieved remarkable improvement in health status since the achievement of universal health coverage in 2002. Health equity has improved significantly. However, challenges on health inequity still remain.This study aimed to determine the trends of geographical inequalities in disease specific mortality in Thailand after the country achieved universal health coverage. ME...

The Declaration is operationalised through eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), each of which provides the blueprint and targets for addressing prioritised social needs. A tension arises, however, between the broad social principles of the Declaration, and the refined targets of the MDGs. Using the fourth MDG as an illustrative example, we highlight the potential to neglect equity in the ...

Editorials 403 Although 2015 is only three years away, many countries are not on track to reach the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), particularly goals 4 and 5, which call for reductions in child and maternal mortality rates. Targeted interventions are needed for rapid progress to take place. However, reliable estimates of the numbers, causes and determinants of death are nee...

BACKGROUND The child mortality rate is a good indicator of development. High levels of infectious diseases and high child mortality make the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) one of the most challenging environments for health development in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Recent conflicts in the eastern part of the country and bad governance have compounded the problem. This study aimed to examine ...

BACKGROUND Recent assessments show continued decline in child mortality in Papua New Guinea (PNG), yet complete subnational analyses remain rare. This study aims to estimate under-five mortality in PNG at national and subnational levels to examine the importance of geographical inequities in health outcomes and track progress towards Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 4. METHODOLOGY We perform...

Monitoring development indicators has become a central interest of international agencies and countries for tracking progress towards the Millennium Development Goals. In this review, which also provides an introduction to a collection of articles, we describe the methodology used by the United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation to track country-specific changes in the ke...