Child mortality...plummeting!
This is a happy post about one of the biggest success stories in Mozambique. It’s about a graph that I have printed and posted in my office: when things don’t go the way they should, I look at it. And I smile.
This May the preliminary data of the 2011 demographic health survey (DHS) were released. For public health geeks, the release of a DHS comes with trepidation, as DHS data tend to be accurate and allow specialists to review progress on key indicators over a medium/long term perspective. Among many figures in the report, one stands out. Child mortality in Mozambique has fallen dramatically, from 201 deaths per 1,000 live births in 1997, to 97 in 2011: more than a 50% reduction in less than 15 years!
Below I try to explain what this means for Mozambique and what may be behind this success.
