BIBLIOGRAPHIC INPUT SHEET TEMPORARY Patterns of mortality ...

282 Patternsof Mortalityin Childhood
of children of mothers with no education.
education while 28.6 per cent had no school-
These significant differences in distributions
ingg Of the mothers of children dying at
1-4 years only 1.4 per cent had the better of deaths by mother's education indicate
(48.4 per cent) that the factors responsible for mortality
education and nearly half
in these age periods must differ also.
had none. Mothers of infants dying in the
neonatal period ore more closely representa- The data by occupation of father, when
tive of the general population, while those analyzed for the 13 Latin American projects
combined, revealed differences that were
of children dying at 1-4 years are the ones
much smaller than those noted for education
most affected by unfavorable socioeconomic
of mother. This was an added indication of
and environmental conditions.
of this latter para-
The percentage distributions for the three the greater usefulness
age groups are illustrated in Figure 142. meter.
general the Another method of presenting the data
While there are variations, in
pattern is clear. Mothers of children dying can be used to further analyze the role of
(Table 169 and Figure 143). In
at 1-4 years had less education than those education
of infants dying soon after birth in the Chapter V it was pointed out that in the
neonatal period,
two projects with the lowest death rates
The differentiation of four educational (California and Sherbrooke) more than 60
levels was less useful in the projects in Sher- per cent of all deaths under 5 years were
brooke and Jamaica because of the small neonatal deaths (63.5 and 61.7 per cent, renumbers
of mothers who had no schooling spectively). In four of the Latin American
or primary education of only one and two projects, out of the deaths of children under
years, although slight differences were noted 5 years whose mothers had secondary or
in the same direction as observed in other university education, more than 60 per cent
projects.
were neonatal deaths. These projects were:
For the 13 Latin American projects coin- Ribeirfio Pr~to with 68.9 per cent, Kingstonbined,
the percentages for the three age St. Andrew 65.8 per cent, Sdo Paulo 64.5,
groups of deceased children differed widely, and Chaco Province 62.7 per cent. To judge
as shown below:
from this general comparison, conditions
Secondary or
would seem to be approximately as favoruniversi(y
No able for these selected groups of women in
Age group education education Latin American areas as for mothers in the
Neonatal period 15.4 19.9 California and Sherbrooke projects.
Postneonatal period 8.4 28.8 Figure 143 shows clearly that among the
1-4 years
6.0 36.7 better educated mothers the proportions of
dying in deaths under 5 years occurring in the neo-
As can be seen, of the children
period were much higher in Latin
the neonatal period, 15.4 per cent of the natal
In fact, in five projects
mothers had secondary or university edu- American projects.
the low percentages for neonatal deaths
cation, while in the 1-4 year age group the
(less than 20) among uneducated mothers
proportion was only 6.0. The reverse was
are evidence of the high proportions octrue
of children of mothers with no education:
19.9 per cent of the deaths in the neo- curring in the postneonatal period and at
natal period but 36.7 per cent (almost twice 1-4 years, the ages at which mortality can
the proportion) of those at 1-4 years were be reduced to low levels through preventive