INFANT AND CHILD-MORTALITY IN 2 COUNTIES OF LIBERIA - RESULTS OF A SURVEY IN 1988 AND TRENDS SINCE 1984

A baseline survey of childhood mortality in two counties of Liberia in 1984 found the risk of dying before age 5 to be almost one-third. Thr ee years into the Combatting Childhood Communicable Diseases (CCCD) pr oject, a survey using a pregnancy history questionnaire was conducted in the same clusters to determine if any change in mortality had occur red. Reinterviews were done in a subsample and pregnancies were matche d from the two surveys to determine levels of missing events. After ad justment for omission, infant mortality was estimated at 180 per 1000, a 25% decline from the estimated 1984 level. Childhood mortality decl ined by an estimated 28%. Tabulations of death by reported cause using a verbal autopsy questionnaire showed that the risks of neonatal teta nus and fever associated deaths declined significantly. These reductio ns might have been a direct result of programme activities which were shown by a marked increase in tetanus toroid immunization and access t o antimalarial drugs in the study area.