A Closer Look at Child Mortality among Adivasis in India

Das, Maitreyi Bordia ; Kapoor, Soumya ; Nikitin, Denis

关键词: ACCESS TO INFORMATION;    ACCESS TO SERVICES;    ACUTE RESPIRATORY INFECTION;    ACUTE RESPIRATORY INFECTIONS;    AGE AT MARRIAGE;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-5231
RP-ID  :  WPS5231

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

The authors use data from the NationalFamily Health Survey 2005 to present age-specific patternsof child mortality among India's tribal (Adivasi)population. The analysis shows three clear findings. First,a disproportionately high number of child deaths areconcentrated among Adivasis, especially in the 1-5 age groupand in those states and districts where there is a highconcentration of Adivasis. Any effort to reduce childmorality in the aggregate will have to focus more squarelyon lowering mortality among the Adivasis. Second, the gap inmortality between Adivasi children and the rest reallyappears after the age of one. In fact, before the age ofone, tribal children face more or less similar odds of dyingas other children. However, these odds significantly reverselater. This calls for a shift in attention from infantmortality or in general under-five mortality to factors thatcause a wedge between tribal children and the rest betweenthe ages of one and five. Third, the analysis goes contraryto the conventional narrative of poverty being the primaryfactor driving differences between mortality outcomes.Instead, the authors find that breaking down child mortalityby age leads to a much more refined picture. Tribal statusis significant even after controlling for wealth.