There were 1,689 press releases posted in the last 24 hours and 413,834 in the last 365 days.

Sub-national assessment of inequality trends in neonatal and child mortality in Brazil

Author(s)/Editor(s): Sousa A, Hill K and Dal Poz MR
Publisher/Organizer: International Journal for Equity in Health
Publication date: September 2010, 9:21doi:10.1186/1475-9276-9-21
Language: English

Link to the publisher's web site

Overview

Brazil’s large socioeconomic inequalities together with the increase in neonatal mortality jeopardize the MDG-4 child mortality target by 2015. We measured inequality trends in neonatal and under five mortality across municipalities characterized by their socio-economic status in a period where major pro poor policies were implemented in Brazil to infer whether policies and interventions in newborn and child health have been successful in reaching the poor as well as the better off.

Our analysis highlights the importance of monitoring progress on MDGs at sub-national level and measuring inequality gaps to accurately target health and inter-sectoral policies. Further efforts are required to improve the measurement and monitoring of trends in neonatal and under five mortality at sub-national level, particularly in developing countries and countries with large socioeconomic inequalities.