Impact of environmental sanitation and crowding on infant mortality in rural Bangladesh

Abstract

In two villages of Bangladesh, 2471 infants born in 1976 and 1977 were followed up for a year to study the impact of environmental sanitation and crowding on their mortality. Neonatal and postneonatal mortality rates in the study cohort were 100 and 75 per 1000 live-births, respectively. Multiple logistic regression analysis was done to estimate the effects of the selected risk factors while controlling for some socioeconomic, demographic, and biological characteristics. Risk of postneonatal mortality (PNNM) in the households which did not use latrines was 3 X 12 times (p less than 0.01) higher than in those which did and 1.5 times (p less than 0.05) higher in the households with 10 or more persons than in smaller households. PNNM in the households which did not use tube-wells (hand-pump) water was higher, but not significantly so, than in those which used tube-well water for all purposes. Neonatal mortality was completely unrelated to the environmental factors investigated.