Quantitative research - Essay Example

Infant Mortality Rate: It is defined as the number of infant deaths in a given year divided by the number of live births in the same year. Normally, it is expressed per 1,000 live births. Or stated otherwise it is an estimate of the number of infant deaths for every 1,000 live births. Infants are children defined as less than one year of age. How does infant mortality rate affect birth rate? About 25,000 infants die each year. The loss of an infant remains a traumatizing reality for many families and takes a serious toll on the health and well-being of the affected families.

It also significantly affects demographic structure of a given country. The risk of a child dying before completing the first year of age was highest in the WHO African region (63 per 1000 live births), about six times higher than that in the WHO European region (10 per 1000 live births). 63 deaths per 1000 live births in 1990 to 35 deaths per 1000 live births in 2012. Annual infant deaths have declined from 8.9 million in 1990 to 4.8 million in 2012. What leads to infant mortality rate? Infant mortality rate is significant in that, it is used as an indicator to measure the health and well-being of a nation.

This is because the factors affecting the health of the entire populations can also impact adversely on the mortality rate of infants. The keys causes of infant mortality include; 1   Born too small and so prematurely- this are babies born before the completion of the entire gestation period. It’s obvious that such babies are mainten aid in the baby incubators until they achieve the required age. However, it sometimes unfortunate that such babies don’t make it, due to circumstances that above the control of the responsible medics.

Victims of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) - this is a gracious syndrome that causes abrupt and un-anticipated death of new born babies. At times, such deaths lack medical justification and explanations as to why they