Infant Mortality Rate
Infant mortality rate (IMR) is the number of deaths of children less than one year of age per 1000 live births. The rate in a given region, therefore, is the total number of newborns dying under one year of age divided by the total number of live births during the year, then all multiplied by 1,000.
There are various forms of infant mortality. Neonatal, or newborn death is mortality occurring within 28 days postpartum. Neonatal death is often attributed to inadequate access to basic medical care during and after the mother delivers her newborn. It accounts for 40-60% of infant mortality in developing countries. Postneonatal infant mortality occurs when the child is 29 days to a year old. Biggest contributors to postneonatal deaths are malnutrition, infectious disease, and home environment. Perinatal mortality occurs in the late fetal period, which typically occurs after 28 weeks gestation and the first week postpartum.
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Famous quotes containing the words infant, mortality and/or rate:
“The colicky baby who becomes calm, the quiet infant who throws temper tantrums at two, the wild child at four who becomes serious and studious at six all seem to surprise their parents. It is difficult to let go of one’s image of a child, say goodbye to the child a parent knows, and get accustomed to this slightly new child inhabiting the known child’s body.”
—Ellen Galinsky (20th century)
“When I turned into a parent, I experienced a real and total personality change that slowly shifted back to the “normal” me, yet has not completely vanished. I believe the two levels are now superimposed, with an additional sprinkling of mortality intimations.”
—Sonia Taitz (20th century)
“Strange that the vanity which accompanies beauty—excusable, perhaps, when there is such great beauty, or at any rate understandable—should persist after the beauty was gone.”
—Mary A. [Elizabeth, Countess Von] Arnim (1866–1941)