It is not inconceivable that by 2035 the substantial gaps in child health across the Pacific can close significantly. Currently, Australia and New Zealand have child mortality rates of 5 and 6 per 1000 live births, respectively, while Pacific island developing nations have under 5 mortality rates ranging from 13 to 16 (Vanuatu, Fiji and Tonga) to 47 and 58 per 1000 live births (Kiribati and Pap...

BACKGROUND While Arab countries showed an impressive decline in child mortality rates during the past few decades, gaps in mortality by gender and socioeconomic status persisted. However, large socioeconomic disparities in child health were evident in almost every country in the region. METHODS Using available tabulations and reliable micro data from national household surveys, data for 18 Ar...

With stunting rates for children under five at 58 percent in Burundi, maternal mortality rate at 488 per 100,000 live births in Kenya, child mortality rate at 76 per 1,000 live births in Rwanda, 27 percent unmet need for contraceptives in Tanzania, and skilled attendants at only 59 percent of births in Uganda, the East African Community Partner States have an opportunity and are committed to im...

Early Childbirth, Health Inputs and Child Mortality: Recent Evidence from Bangladesh This paper examines the relationship between early childbearing and child mortality in Bangladesh, a country where adolescent childbearing is of particular concern. We argue that effective use of specific health inputs could however significantly lower child mortality rates even among adolescent women. This off...

BACKGROUND Poor maternal and child health indicators have been reported in Nigeria since the 1990s. Many interventions have been instituted to reverse the trend and ensure that Nigeria is on track to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. This systematic review aims at describing and indirectly measuring the effect of the Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health (MNCH) interventions implemented i...

BACKGROUND The objective of this study is to compare all-cause mortality and drowning-specific mortality rates and survival times among birth cohorts of children from rural Bangladesh over a 14-year period. METHOD Seven birth cohorts of children aged 12-59 months were created using data from the Matlab Health and Demographic Surveillance System in Bangladesh. Each cohort represents children b...

BACKGROUND Government health care spending (GHS) is of increasing importance to child health. Our study determined the relationship between reductions in GHS and child mortality rates in high- and low-income countries. METHODS The authors used comparative country-level data for 176 countries covering the years 1981 to 2010, obtained from the World Bank and the Institute for Health Metrics and...

Access to communication technologies can be welfare enhancing. Hence, universal access to communication technologies has become a significant policy priority. In this paper, we investigate whether universal access to public telephone helps reduce child mortality. The Village Public Telephone (VPT) program in India was designed to expand public telephony to all villages in the country. We exploi...

BACKGROUND The probability of survival through childhood continues to be unequal in middle-income countries. This study uses data from the Philippines to assess trends in the prevalence and distribution of child mortality and to evaluate the country's socioeconomic-related child health inequality. METHODOLOGY Using data from four Demographic and Health Surveys we estimated levels and trends o...

OBJECTIVES Child mortality remains a critical problem even in developed countries due to low fertility. To plan effective interventions, investigation into the trends and causes of child mortality is necessary. Therefore, we analyzed these trends and causes of child deaths over the last 30 years in Korea. METHODS Causes of death data were obtained from a nationwide vital registration managed ...