Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-dh8gc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-03T04:59:40.602Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Infant mortality in relation to internal migration in rural Bangladesh

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 July 2008

A. K. M. Alauddin Chowdhury
Affiliation:
International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Summary

In Matlab thana, a rural area of Bangladesh, there is a substantial deficit of males of reproductive age owing to urban migration of males who leave their families behind. These men nevertheless return to visit their families frequently. Thirty percent of the births in this area occur to families with migrant fathers: neonatal mortality rates in these families are nearly double those of families with non-migrant fathers. This high risk, in turn, interacts with educational attainment and maternal nutrition. Only those migrant families where mothers have no education or low body weight experience high neonatal mortality rates. Psychological stress during pregnancy, probably caused by fear and anxiety related to the husband's absence may in part be responsible for such differential risk of mortality during the neonatal period.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1986

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Blomberg, S. (1980a) Influence of maternal distress during pregnancy on fetal development and mortality. Acta psychiat. scand. 62, 298.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Blomberg, S. (1980b) Influence of maternal distress during pregnancy on fetal malformations. Acta psychiat. scand. 62, 315.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Browne, F.J. & Browne, J.C.M. (1968) Post Graduate Obstetrics and Gynecology. Butterworth, London.Google Scholar
Chaudhury, R.H. & Curlin, G.C. (1975) Dynamics of migration in a rural area of Bangladesh. Bangladesh Dev. Stud. 3, 181.Google Scholar
Chowdhury, A.K.M.A. & Becker, S. (1981) Determinants of Natural Fertility, Vol. 1, Methods and Descriptive Tables for the Prospective Study 1975–78. Scientific Report No. 48, International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Dhaka.Google Scholar
Ruzicka, L. & Chowdhury, A.K.M.A. (1978) Demographic Surveillance System Matlab, Vol. 4, Vital Events and Migration 1975. Scientific Report No. 12. International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Dhaka.Google Scholar
Sterky, G. & Day, L.M. (Eds) (1978) Birth-weight Distribution and Indicator of Social Development. SEREEC Report No. R:2. World Health Organization, Geneva.Google Scholar
Stoeckel, J. & Chowdhury, A.K.M.A. (1972) Out migration from a rural area of Bangladesh. Rural Social. 37, 236.Google Scholar
Walker, S.H. & Duncan, D.B. (1967) Estimation of the probability of an event as a function of several independent variables. Biometrika, 54, 167.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed