Impacts of biosocial factors on infant mortality among the slum population of four metropolitan cities in India

A.M. Elizabeth, National Institute of Health and Family Welfare
T. Bir

Recent NFHS-3 report shows that infant and child mortality including the neonatal mortality rate is declining slightly faster in the rural areas than the urban areas. The present analysis was done to examine the prevalence of infant and neonatal mortality (0-12 months) among the slum population of four metropolitan cities using NFHS-3 data and to determine the bio-socio factors causing such mortality. Analysis of data reveals that in Mumbai, slums population have a much lower infant mortality rate (25 deaths per 1,000 births) than non-slums (40 deaths per 1,000 births); In Madras The infant mortality rate is 57 percent higher in slums (38 per 1,000 live births) than non-slums (24 per 1,000 live births) but slum children are much more likely than non-slum children to have received all of the recommended vaccinations against childhood diseases (89% vs. 74%). The largest differentials for individual vaccinations are for the third dose of DPT vaccine (100% in slums and 91% in nonslums) and the third dose of polio vaccine (94% in slums and 87% in non-slums). In Kolkota, Children in slum areas experience lower mortality than children in non-slum areas during the neonatal period (20 per 1,000 vs. 34 per 1,000). Slum children are less likely (by 10-11 percentage points) than non-slum children to have received three doses of the polio and the measles vaccines. Only 63 percent of children in slums and 71 percent of children in non-slums have received all of the recommended vaccinations against childhood diseases. In Delhi the slum areas experience higher infant mortality (54.1) and neonatal mortality (36.2) than non slum areas (infant mortality 36.1 and neonatal mortality 24.3).The no vaccination was found to be 13.5% in the slum area which is higher than non slum area (8.3%).