Newborn Mortality Rates In Ghana And The United States Today

Newborn Mortality Rates in Ghana and the United States Today

Introduction

It is frequently been suggested that the infant mortality rate (IMR) is a reliable indicator of a country's civilization and focus on the welfare of its citizens (Berger 2001). Although global infant mortality rates has shown steady improvement over the past century, many developing countries continue to experience inordinately high rates compared to the world levels; surprisingly, though, even the United States which claims to have one of the best healthcare systems in the world continues to experience relatively high infant mortality rates, higher even than many developing nations (Berger 2001). This paper will provide an overview of the problem, followed by an examination of the infant mortality rates in the Republic of Ghana and the United States. A summary of the research will be provided in the conclusion.

Review and Analysis

Background and Overview. Infant mortality reflects the well-being of entire populations, whether nations or subgroups, a fact that makes it a fundamental area of mortality study (Zopf 1992). According to Berger (2001), infant mortality has been subdivided into three major categories to clarify understanding of risk factors. Infant mortality encompasses two subgroups: neonatal (birth to 27 days) and postneonatal (28 days to 364 days). Child mortality applies to one-to-18 years olds. For the purposes of this investigation, the IMR will employ the definition provided by the CIA World Factbook, defined as infant deaths within the first year of life. This IMR therefore provides the number of deaths of infants under one year old in a given year per 1,000 live births in the same year.

Worldwide, rates of infant mortalit...

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