A comparison of infant mortality rates between Pakistan and rest of the world

Abstract

Introduction

Child mortality is regarded as one of the best measures of the health status of a country. It is also considered as the key factor that indicates the inclusive and sustainable development of human capital in any economy. The 1990s have seen a remarkable decrease in mortality among infants and children in most developing countries (White, 1999). After the Millennium Development Goals (MDGS) in the 1990s we have seen a remarkable decrease in infant mortality among children in most developing countries. In some countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, these declines in mortality among children have slowed and are now increasing again (Hanmer, Lensik et al, 2003). South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa are the poorest and the most underdeveloped parts of the developing world, with the worst absolute and relative indicators of health and poverty in the world. These two regions have some of the highest child and infant mortality rates (IMR) in the developing world.

Pakistan tends to perform relatively poorly. In this study I analyzed why infant mortality rates are relatively very high in the era of MDGS and point towards policy recommendations for reducation in infant mortality rates. The graph below makes some comparisons of Infant Mortality Rates in the 1990s and 2015 world wide.

<Figue 1>

We divide the world infant mortality rates into bins of size ten and compare the number of countries in 1990 and 2015 to show the progress of the world in the era given in Figure1. There were only thirty four countries whose infant mortality rates lies between zero and ten indicated by black dotted graph in 1990. In the other graph of 2015 however, this number increased to seventy five, which is more than double, showing a significant reduction in infant mortality rates during the era of MDG‘s in each Bin.

We know that infant mortality rates are declining in Pakistan but the rate at which IMR is decreasing is painfully slow and it will take decades to overcome the issue of high IMR at the pace we are moving. So, this study recommends policies and best practices in the region that will act a catalyst to increase the pace of reduction in IMR. There were a lot of studies done on Infant Mortality Rates but this study is unique in the context of Pakistan because it will provide provincial analysis at grassroots level, which will help the provincial government to take measures accordingly as all provinces in Pakistan are not consistent in reducing IMR.