Study of infant and childhood mortality in an ICDS block of eastern U.P.

Information on births and deaths was collected in 11 randomly selected AWW areas of Barhaj Mahen ICDS project area in Eastern U.P. by an independent survey team in 1988-89. The findings revealed that the births and deaths were under-reported to the tune of 36.6 and 13.9 percent respectively, by AWWs. The different demographic indicators generated from the data were as follows, CBR and CDR were 30.3 and 7.1 per 1000 population. Neonatal mortality rate, IMR, and MMR were 58.3, 74.7 and 6.5 per 1000 live births. 0-6 yr mortality was 16.3 per 1000 children and constituted 37.5% of the total deaths. ARI, diarrhoea and fever were the major causes of mortality in 0-6 yr old children accounting for 25.9, 22.3 and 14.8% respectively. The findings indicated that there was underreporting in adult mortalities despite the independent investigation, and a reduction in infant and childhood mortality possibly due to the beneficial effect of ICDS services.