Neonatal deaths

Infant mortality refers to deaths of young children, typically those less than one year of age. It is measured by the infant mortality rate (IMR), which is the number of deaths of children under one year of age per 1000 live births. The Under-Five Mortality Rate is also an important statistic considering the Infant Mortality Rate has a strict limit on focusing on children only under one year of age.

Premature birth is the biggest contributor to the IMR. Other leading causes of infant mortality are birth asphyxia, pneumonia, term birth complications such as abnormal presentation of the fetus umbilical cord prolapse, or prolonged labor,neonatal infection, diarrhea, malaria, measles and malnutrition. One of the most common preventable causes of infant mortality is smoking during pregnancy. Many factors contribute to infant mortality, such as the mother's level of education, environmental conditions, and political and medical infrastructure. Improving sanitation, access to clean drinking water, immunization against infectious diseases, and other public health measures can help reduce high rates of infant mortality.

Child mortality is the death of a child before the child's fifth birthday, measured as the Under-5 Child Mortality Rate (U5MR). National statistics sometimes group these two mortality rates together. Globally, 9.2 million infants and children die each year before their fifth birthday; more than 60% of these deaths are seen as being avoidable with low-cost measures such as continuous breast-feeding, vaccinations and improved nutrition.

Infant mortality rate was an indicator used to monitor progress towards the Fourth Goal of the Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations for the year 2015. It is now a target in the Sustainable Development Goals for Goal Number 3 ("Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages").

Throughout the world, Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) fluctuates drastically, and according to Biotechnology and Health Sciences, education and life expectancy in the country is the leading indicator of IMR. This study was conducted across 135 countries over the course of 11 years with Africa having the highest Infant Mortality Rate of any other region studied with 68 deaths per 1,000 live births.

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