Infant Mortality

Infant Mortality: A Breastfeeding Proposal According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 2013, approximately 73% of all deaths of children under five years old occurred during the first twelve months of life. This number was highest in Africa where the under one year old death rate approached 63 deaths per 1000 lives. On the other end of the spectrum was Europe who had a relatively low infant death rate of 10 per 1000. This large variation in the infant death rate has raised questions amongst the WHO, educators, care providers as well as many other areas of expertise. Why does the death rate vary so much in different regions of the world? What can be done to help reduce the death rate in regions like Africa where the death rate is at an alarming high rate? Recent data from the WHO indicates there has been a reduction of infant death from 1990 to 2012. “Globally, the infant mortality rate has decreased from an estimated rate of 63 deaths per 1000 live births in 1990 to 35 deaths per 1000 live births in 2012. Annual infant deaths have declined from 8.9 million in 1990 to 4.8 million in 2012” (World Health Organization, 2013). Through research and education the WHO is hopeful infant mortality can continue this downward trend over the coming years. “Breast milk is widely acknowledged to be the most complete form of nutrition for infants. There is strong evidence for both the short term and long term benefits of breastfeeding” The first step in facilitating any change is to assess the need for change and utilize previous evidenced based care studies to help promote this change globally. Through selective searches using several databases it was found the breastfeeding globally has been attributed to lower infant morbidity and mortality. Below are several previous studies and articles related to breastfeeding and infant mortality in hopes to depict a better explanation for the continued need of education and support globally related to this topic. A link