Infant and Child Mortality in Rural Mali

Abstract

Some new data on child mortality among 3 distinct ethnic groups resident in 2 distinct zones of rural Mali are presented. The data were gathered during a program of single round demographic surveys and both direct and indirect estimates of child mortality are presented. The bulk of the analysis is based on life table analysis of the maternity data. The data span a range of groups with contrasting ways of life. They include: sedentary Bambara millet farmers; the agro pastoral Fulani of the delta; the semi nomadic Seno Mango Fulani; and fully nomadic Kel Tamasheq who are dependent on their animals for their subsistence. The surveys were all conducted during 2 periods of fieldwork in the 1st half of 1981 and 1982. The quality of the birth history data collected in a single round survey among such populations with almost no exact idea of Western calendar years or months can be sufficiently good for a detailed analysis of child mortality using life table techniques. This is important for the future design of studies of child mortality in West Africa. Multi round surveys are always more expensive more complicated to run and take longer to produce results than single round surveys. In the groups surveyed in rural Mali the age pattern of child mortality with the exception of the Delta Fulani was different from the distinctive pattern identified by Cantrelle and Garenne for parts of rural Senegal and the Gambia. The proportion of all infants deaths occurring in the 1st month for the samples in Mali all of which were affected by the heaping of age at death around the 12th month ranged from 33% among the Delta Tamasheq to 51% among the Bambara. Data from the Kenya fertility survey in 1979 indicated an overall level of infant mortality of 106/1000. 42% of infant deaths reported in the survey occurred in the 1st month of life. For the 1st 6 months the spread of mortality experience was quite wide among the 5 main groups. For the succeeding period between 6-18 months the differentials collapsed except for the relatively high levels maintained by the Delta Fulani. Mortality between the 18th month and the 5th birthday was quite similar for the Bambara Gourma Tamasheq and the Seno Fulani with the extremes on the 1 hand by the Delta Fulani (high mortality) and on the other although less extremely by the Delta Tamasheq (low mortality).