Differential and Determinants of Neonatal Mortality: A Comparative Study in Northern and Southern Regions of India

Kamalesh Kumar Patel; Mukesh Kumar

doi:10.4103/ijcm.IJCM_425_20

Differential and Determinants of Neonatal Mortality: A Comparative Study in Northern and Southern Regions of India

Indian J Community Med. 2021 Jul-Sep;46(3):405-410. doi: 10.4103/ijcm.IJCM_425_20. Epub 2021 Oct 13.

Authors

Kamalesh Kumar Patel¹, Mukesh Kumar²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Population Policies and Programmes, International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai, India.
² Department of Statistics, MMV, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India.

Abstract

Background: The Government of India initiated different programs to reduce neonatal mortality. However, the variability of neonatal deaths occurs among states of India.

Objective: This study aimed to identify the differential determinants associated with neonatal deaths in northern and southern regions of India.

Materials and methods: Bivariate analysis and Cox regression analysis have been performed to evaluate the predictors of neonatal mortality from National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4) data.

Results: For neonatal mortality, mother and child factors became more consistent in the southern region than northern regions of the country, while household factor was almost the same in both regions of India.

Conclusions: Primary intervention is also required to reduce public health problem as neonatal mortality. It should be focused on education of mother, birth interval, age at birth, antenatal care, poverty reduction programs, and proper heath facility to pregnant mothers.

Keywords: Cox regression; India; neonatal mortality; northern regions; southern regions.