Levels, trends and determinants of child mortality in Matlab, Bangladesh, 1966-1994

There has been a substantial decline in child mortality in Bangladesh since the 1940s, particularly in the last two decades (Huq and Cleland, 1990; Cleland and Streatfield, 1992; ICDDR,B, 1984; 1994). Yet, with an infant mortality rate at about 100 deaths per thousand live births, and an under-five mortality rate of about 130 per thousand (in 1994), child mortality is still a burning problem in Bangladesh. To develop interventions to reduce infant and child mortality, it is important to know the factors responsible for mortality decline, and the factors that work as obstacles to its further decline in this country.