GEOG 1131 (BLOG)Leah, Daniella, Fadilah, Sharda, Jaimeil

INFANT MORTALITY IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

Infant mortality refers to the number of infants dying before reaching one year of age, per 1,000 live births in a given year. Infant mortality is a major issue within Sub- Saharan Africa, referring to all those African countries that lie south of the Sahara Dessert except Sudan. This part of Africa is known as black Africa in reference to the amount of black people within the area.

According to the economist article, Where Not to Be a Mother, the riskiest place to be born is sub- Saharan Africa. The region accounts for 12% of the world’s population but 38% of first day deaths. The major reason for this number is that many of the babies are born TOO early. In Malawi nearly one fifth of their babies are born prematurely. This is by far the highest rate in the world. Other babies within this region are born underweight. For instance in Niger and Mauritania, one third of their babies are born way too light. Within these areas, the prevalence of poor maternal health and under- nutrition is very present! These are the biggest reasons responsible for the underweight babies that are born. In Ethiopia, Madagascar and Eritrea the presence of underweight mothers is very high.

To worsen matters for those African women within the sub- Saharan region, they get married and/ or become sexually active at young ages,usually between 15 and 19. At these ages the transition from childhood to adulthood occurs and the zeal for independence for these youths occurs driving them into the lifestyles of their culture. It is at these ages that the parenthood stage begins. Because most of these women are young and they may at most times be too underdeveloped for childbirth. About half of all young women in Chad and Niger were mothers by the age of 18.

The economist report highlight that the correlation between low use and contraception, high fertility and poor newborn outcomes. Across the entire sub- Saharan Africa the portion of the women that use modern contraception is less than 16%. Gathered from an economist article, in Somalia and Chad it is only 1% and 2% respectively.

Health care in the region is heavily inadequate. Almost useless! There is a great shortage of health workers. The region only has11 doctors, nurses and midwives per 10,000 people, less than half of these are considered necessary to deliver essential care. In Ethiopia up to 90% of women give birth at home with no skilled care. It is all of these factors that contribute to the high infant mortality rate in sub- Saharan Africa.

Many articles state that the key to development is through education. Development in terms of lowering the fertility rates which in turn would not cause a food crisis or overpopulation. If not taken care off, this would lead to underdevelopment and such cases have been subsequent, as lesser developed countries (LDCs)have been prone to food crisis caused by overpopulation.

One of the most important rights of a woman is her ability to have an education. According to Angela W. Browne and Hazel R. Barrette, in the article of Comparative Education, Vol 27, issue 3, 1991, the importance of female education in Sub Saharan Africa was one of the major issues discussed as this was referred to the development of the country. Compared to developed countries, fertility rates are higher in Sub Saharan Africa due to several factors, one of them most prevalent is the fact that females are less educated about contraceptives or family planning agencies and also an African belief is, the more children/offspring he produces measures up with his strength and ability to be fertile. All of these factors therefore increase fertility rates.

Due to underdevelopment, this has caused the education system in Sub Saharan as well as other LDCs to decline. The only other alternative for the hope of women is to get married and start families. This way they would be able to depend on their husbands to support their families.

Discrimination against women needs to be taken in consideration when speaking about increase in fertility rates. In the Sub Saharan, and also in many parts of the world, discrimination against women manifests itself in various forms. Women face greater barriers and rely on strategies for advancement that are different from those of their male counterparts.Hence the reason it is difficult for women to obtain educational opportunities as well as career opportunities in mast LDCs including Sub Saharan Africa.Furthermore, working mothers, due to their priorities,they lean more towards family responsibility and are denied to career advancement opportunities as this is however seen in MDCs rather thanLDCs.

   Infant mortality in sub- Saharan Africa has decreased over time. According to Trading Economics, using the World Bank Indicators, the infant mortality rate has decreased from 92.49 per 1000 live births in 2010 to 85.53 per 1000 in 2005 and continuously decreased to 76.96 in 2010. Although the decrease is present, the mortality rate is still relatively high.

  There is a lot of work that Caribbean countries need to do in order to decrease the infant mortality rates in the Caribbean, particularly in Trinidad and Tobago. Governments can not only increase the budget towards the medical sector to ensure births are carried safely but stricter penalties should be placed on those doctors, nurses, midwives and persons in the medical sector who don’t . Also, better education of child bearing should be taught to young women within their child bearing ages.

  In the Caribbean, the level of infant mortality rate is lower than that of sub- Saharan Africa. In the Caribbean, the infant mortality is by far lower than that in sub- Sahara. The highest infant mortality is in Haiti (54.02 per 1000 live births) and the lowest in Guadeloupe and Martinique (3.29 per 1000 live births). According to Anna Ramdass, 2012, the infant mortality rate in 2009 was 13 per 1000 live deaths but the less than 5 mortality rate in 2009 was 27 and 24. In fact, the infant mortality rate is decreasing but the numbers are still relatively high in comparison to the level of development with in the nation.

The UN IGME (Inter- agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation) together with the Millennium Development Goals whose main objective is to eradicate the outspread of poverty, HIV/ Aids and other diseases, have recognized that across the regions the mortality rate for children under five years declined by 6 million/ 11.1% in 22 years, 1990 to 2012 except for the Sub- Sahara and Oceania, and all other regions including Southern Asia, Eastern Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean have been reduced by 50% and more. With the Sub- Sahara being face with significant challenges to curb the problem of acquiring the highest infant mortality in the world sky rocketing up to 98 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2012.