Neonatal, Postneonatal and Childhood Mortality in India

Background The conventional indicators of infant and under-five mortality are aggregate deaths occurring in the first year and the first five years, respectively. Monitoring deaths by <1 month (neonatal), 1-11 months (post-neonatal), and 12- 59 months (child) can be more informative given various etiological causes that may require different interventions across these three mutually exclusive periods. For optimal resource allocation, it is also necessary to track progress in robust estimates of child survival at a smaller geographic and administrative level.

Methods Data on 259627 children came from the 2015-2016 Indian National Family Health Survey. We used a random effects model to account for the complex survey design and sampling variability, and predicted district-specific probabilities of neonatal, post-neonatal, and child mortality. The resulting precision-weighted estimates are more reliable as they pool information and borrow strength from other districts that share the same state membership. The Pearson correlation and Spearman’s rank correlation were assessed for the three mortality estimates, and the Moran’s I measure was used to detect spatial clustering of high burden districts for each outcome.

Results The majority of under-five deaths was disproportionately concentrated in the neonatal period. Across all districts, the predicted probability of neonatal, post-neonatal, and child mortality varied from 6.0 to 63.9 deaths, 3.8 to 47.6 deaths, and 1.7 to 11.8 deaths per 1000 live births, respectively. The overall correlation between district-wide probabilities of mortality for the three mutually exclusive periods was moderate (Pearson correlation=0.47-0.58, Spearman’s rank correlation=0.58-0.64). For each outcome, a relatively strong spatial clustering was detected across districts that transcended state boundaries (Moran’s I=0.61-0.76).

Conclusions Sufficiently breaking down the under-five mortality to distinct age groups and using the precision-weighted estimations to monitor performances at smaller geographic and administrative units can inform more targeted interventions and foster accountability to improve child survival

In India, data on key developmental indicators that formulate policies and interventions are routinely available for the administrative units of districts but not for the political units of Parliamentary Constituencies (PC). Members of Parliament (MPs) in the Lok Sabha, each representing 543 PCs as per the 2014 India map, are the representatives with the most direct interaction with their constituents. The MPs are responsible for articulating the vision and the implementation of public policies at the national level and for their respective constituencies. In order for MPs to efficiently and effectively serve their people, and also for the constituents to understand the performance of their MPs, it is critical to produce the most accurate and up-to-date evidence on the state of health and well-being at the PC-level. However, absence of PC identifiers in nationally representative surveys or the Census has eluded an assessment of how a PC is doing with regards to key indicators of nutrition, health and development.