Death Clustering, Mothers' Education and the Determinants of Child Mortality in Rural Punjab, India

Abstract

In this paper the behavioural factors which make for continuing high levels of child mortality in rural Punjab, despite favourable conditions in terms of nutrition, income, women's literacy and health care facilities are examined. A major factor is that inadequate attention has been paid to improved health care practices within the home. Women's autonomy, social class, and mothers' education significantly influence child survival. One of the pathways by which mothers' education affects child survival is through improved child care. In this society, a woman's autonomy is lowest during that part of her life-cycle which also contains her peak childbearing years: this perverse overlap raises child mortality. The risk of dying is distributed very unevenly amongst children, as the majority of child deaths are clustered amongst a small proportion of the families. The death-clustering variable remained significant even after several possible biological and socio-economic reasons for clustering had been controlled. It is argued that this clustering of deaths is partly due to the poor basic abilities of some mothers and other carers.