Infant mortality in India: use of maternal and child health services in relation to literacy status
Gokhale, M.K.; Rao, S.S.; Garole, V.R.
Journal of Health Population and Nutrition 20(2): 138-147
2002
ISSN/ISBN: 1606-0997 PMID: 12186194 DOI: 10.2307/23498935Document Number: 243667
The present study examined the influence of female literacy on use of maternal and child health (MCH) services and on infant mortality rate using a state-level (included 24 major states in India) data from the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) 1992 and micro-level data collected on rural women aged 15-36 years from Maharashtra. The states were grouped into 3 clusters as best, medium and worst on the basis of female illiteracy levels using cluster analysis. Infant mortality rate (per 1000 livebirths) for the worst group (90.99) was significantly higher compared to that for the medium group (64.2) and best group (24.0). On the other hand, use of maternal services was lowest in the worst group and increased significantly (P<0.05) in the best group for tetanus toxoid (48% to 84.4%), iron and folic acid tablets (36.6% to 76.2%) and hospitalized deliveries (14.2% to 69.7%) with values for the medium group lying in between. The differences in the best and worst groups were less striking with respect to the child care variables, except for vaccination (64.9% vs. 23.6%, P<0.01). These findings were supported by the micro-level data on rural women. It is concluded that female literacy is associated with the use of MCH services, which, in turn, may facilitate reduction in infant mortality rate.