Birth Intervals and the Survival of Children to Age Five--Some Data from Nepal

Abstract

While several studies have been done on the relationship between infant mortality and birth intervals none have been done on a specific population. For this reason 3500 rural women in Nepal were interviewed and pregnancy histories taken. Out of a total of 9800 live births reported all children under 5 years of age were eliminated from the study; 1st order births were tabulated into only some of the results leaving a total sample of 4527 children over 5 years of age with a pre and post birth interval factor. Because women of early or late childbearing age are known to have more complications pre or postnatally the respondents were divided into 4 groups: those under 19 20-24 25-29 and those 30 or over. 38% of infants whose mothers waited less than 18 months to have another child died before they reached the age of 5. Pre birth intervals of more than 30 months have a 10-20% mortality rate with women in the older age categories having a slightly better chance for their babies to survive. Similar statistics were found for the post birth interval base. Short post birth intervals provide even greater danger to the infant than short pre birth intervals. The results show that women who become pregnant 30 months following the birth of their previous child are at much higher risk than those who wait at least 42 months to have another child. The above results present a powerful argument for the spacing of children. Because natural means of birth control such as breastfeeding or taboos on intercourse during lactation are decreasing as a country develops there will be a greater need for widespread contraception use and family planning.