Infant Mortality Globally and Locally

The infant mortality rate is a number that countries use to figure out the health of their

Country. The infant mortality rate is officially defined as deaths (per 1000 live births) in 

the 1st year of life (Miller, 1985). I wanted to use Miller’s definition because it was the 

simplest form to understand. There was no real way to reword it. This affects everyone 

in the world. The reason that it affects everyone is because it has to do with the overall 

health of an area. If the infant mortality rate of an area is really high, than you probably 

want to be looking at some of the things that affect this. Such as, the quality of the 

neighborhood, the quality of water, education of the women in the area and the access 

to health care.

Taking it to a more global outlook, you would look at the education of the women in the 

country, the GDP of the country, the countries clean water ways and the medical care 

system set up in the country. “The apparent association between the causes of infant 

mortality and other factors that are likely to influence the health status of whole 

populations such as their economic development, general living conditions, social well 

being, rates of illness, and the quality of the environment” (Allotey, Reidpath, 2002). All 

of the things that Allotey and Reidpath mention all have an aspect in the overall health of 

a country. When the IMR is really high in a country, it means that there is something 

wrong environmentally or in the health care system, whether it be bad water in a certain 

area or lack of quality health care to prevent young deaths. 

This is a problem because infant mortality rate proves the overall quality of health in a 

country. Why this is, because if we do not provide better health care for the mothers 

and the infants than our infant mortality rate goes up and shows that we do not have the 

means to properly continue our population. This also shows us where we need better 

health care and where there is a problem. The more infant deaths there are in a country 

or area, the more health problems in the area as a whole.

The consequences of having a low infant mortality rate is a shorter life expectancy 

because of not getting the proper care, affects the disease and infection in the area and 

so forth. This affects the larger society because we need to make sure that our country 

is being taken care of in the proper way. As an industrialized country we should have 

one of the best IMR’s but really we have one of the lowest! This can cause a lower life 

expectancy in the worse off areas. 

Why does IMR determine the health of a country? Well, it seems that the high IMR’s 

are in places that have a lower quality of life and more chance of disease. There are 

many other factors that play into this, but there seems to be a correlation between 

poverty and a high IMR in the area. This however, does not explain why the US has one 

of the highest IMR’s in the world. I am going to leave you with the question, Why do 

you think that our country has one of the highest IMR’s in the world?

References

Reidpath, D. D., and P. Allotey. "Infant Mortality Rate as an Indicator of Population

Health." N.p., n.d. Web. 23 May 2013.

Miller, C. A. "Infant Mortality in the US." National Center for Biotechnology

          Information. U.S. National Library of Medicine, n.d. Web. 23 May 2013.