OVERVIEW OF INFANT MORTALITY IN ALAGOAS - BRAZIL

BACKGROUND & AIM. The infant mortality rate (IMR), is considered one of the most efficient indicators of a population’s social and economic development. In Brazil, the IMR showed 19,3 deaths/1000 live births in 2009. This rate is still higher than the acceptable value set by the World Health Organization. In state of Alagoas (Brazil), the infant mortality rate decreased by 48,17% between 2000 and 2009. The decrease in infant mortality is attribute to improvement in basic environmental sanitation, expanded access to basic health services, immunization, promotion of breastfeeding, greater coverage of prenatal care, and some other social programs. This study aimed to compare IMR, from 2014 to 2015, in a transversal study. METHOD. Secondary data analysis of the Ministry of Health databases. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS. From January to September of 2014 there were 598 deaths in children under one year of age. At the same period of 2015, there were 567 deaths. This represents 5,19% of decrease. There were a decrease of 11% for early neonatal mortality in 2015, while rates of late neonatal and post-neonatal mortality remained almost unchanged from one year to another. About distribution of the principal causes of infants deaths, the leading causes were evitable in both years. In the group of evitable causes of deaths, the most important decrease (12,08%) was in reducible causes by actions of early prevention, diagnosis and treatment. That represents an improvement on the access and follow up of the children in the first year of age.