Under Five Child Mortality & Its Risk Factors in Bangladesh and other South Asian Countries: A Literature Review

Abstract

Under five child mortality is one of the serious public health issues in all over the world especially in

South Asian region. Significant achievements have been made in last ten decades to reduce child mortality

globally, but South Asian region still has one of the highest child mortalities in the world (51 deaths per 1000

live births). Out of ten child deaths, three occur in South Asian region. Various risk factors influence this

high mortality rate, however, some of the risk factors show similarities and other varies time to time across

countries in the South Asian region. Parents literacy, occupation, household wealth, health care accessibility

and utilization, poverty and inadequate food intake, poor access to information, mother’s age and several

socio-cultural factors contributes mostly to the high number of mortalities in young children. However, it

is imperative to study the country specific reasons and useful comparison of contexts might be useful to

address the immediate, underlying and basic causes of child malnutrition. There, this paper aimed to study

the difference in under five child mortality in different South Asian countries and determine whether the

associated risk factors are similar or different across those eight countries. For increasing the under-five

child survival and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, South Asian regional countries needs to

give serious efforts on maternal and child health sector as it affects national development. Country specific

strategies and interventions should be based on most prevalent risk factors.