Infant mortality in India: differentials and determinants

Infant mortality is now considered to be an excel lent indicator of the level of a country's socio economic development. Development planners also accepted the importance of infant mortality in the late seventies, after the Alma Ata Declaration of 'Health for All' by the year 2000.
This volume of original essays comes at an opportune time, and provides a comprehensive review of this vital index for India. The editors argue against the commonly held belief that the high rate of infant mortality in India began to decline only from 1978 after having remained stable for a decade. They postulate that the level of infant mortality has, in fact, declined steadily since 1947, although the pace of decline has varied over the past 40 years.
A unique feature of this book is its distinction be tween neonatal and post-neonatal mortality, which have different etiologies and require different programme interventions. Among the major aspects tackled by the contributors to this volume are: a state-of-the-art review of the scattered literature in India on the subject of infant mortality; a multivariate analysis to assess the relative contribution of vaccination, birth attendants, mother's literacy and poverty in explaining inter-state variations in infant mortality; an examination of the correlates and determinants of infant mortality in selected areas; and a review of analytical frameworks and methodological issues involved in studying the determinants of infant mortality.
This volume is the culmination of a dialogue be tween social scientists and health professionals. Such interdisciplinary interactions serve to better our understanding of the problems of development which are complex and multifaceted. This book will be valuable for demographers, health and social scientists, those involved in social work and preventive medicine, and policy-makers.