Socio-Economic Determinants of Infant and Child Mortality in Assam

Assam is a state with various social, religious and ethnic groups. Their living standards, food habits, literacy level, sanitary conditions, nutritional status, utilization of health services and the pattern of child bearing and rearing are rooted in their social values and norms. Although a lot of inputs have been given in health sector to reduce the high infant mortality, no significant achievements have been made till now. Since the Infant mortality rate is a pooled average value experienced by various cultural groups and communities, it is quite possible that there may be such areas and communities having high infant mortality rate, which may be keeping the overall infant mortality rate of a community at higher level. The author has tries to understand the complex socio-economic determinants of infant and child mortality in Assam.