Causes of Infant Mortality
According to Shelbycountychildren.org some causes of infant mortality are congenital malformations, sudden infant death syndrome, maternal complications during pregnancy, and accidents and unintentional injuries. Environmental and social barriers prevent access to basic medical resources and thus contribute to an increasing infant mortality rate. Ninety-nine percent of infant deaths occur in developing countries, and eighty-six percent of these deaths are due to infections, premature births, complications during delivery, and perinatal asphyxia and birth injuries. Greatest percentage reduction of infant mortality occurs in countries that already have low rates of infant mortality. Common causes are preventable with low-cost measures. In the United States a primary determinant of infant mortality risk is infant birth weight with lower birth weights increasing the risk of infant mortality. The determinants of low birth weight include socio-economic, psychological, behavorial and enviormental factors.
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Famous quotes containing the words infant mortality, infant and/or mortality:
“Families suffered badly under industrialization, but they survived, and the lives of men, women, and children improved. Children, once marginal and exploited figures, have moved to a position of greater protection and respect,... The historic decline in the overall death rates for children is an astonishing social fact, notwithstanding the disgraceful infant mortality figures for the poor and minorities. Like the decline in death from childbirth for women, this is a stunning achievement.”
—Joseph Featherstone (20th century)
“Language was not powerful enough to describe the infant phenomenon. “I’ll tell you what, sir,” he said; “the talent of this child is not to be imagined. She must be seen, sir—seen—to be ever so faintly appreciated.”... The infant phenomenon, though of short stature, had a comparatively aged countenance, and had moreover been precisely the same age—not perhaps to the full extent of the memory of the oldest inhabitant, but certainly for five good years.”
—Charles Dickens (1812–1870)
“The mortality of all inanimate things is terrible to me, but that of books most of all.”
—William Dean Howells (1837–1920)