PATTERNS OF CHILDHOOD MORTALITY IN 3 DISTRICTS OF NORTH GONDAR ADMINISTRATIVE ZONE - A COMMUNITY-BASED STUDY USING THE VERBAL AUTOPSY METHOD

This community based study was undertaken to determine the infant and child mortality rates, causes of childhood mortality and examine the u tilization patterns of health services in north Gondar Administrative Zone. The study was conducted from November 1994 to May 1995. A pretes ted questionnaire based on criteria suggested for diagnosis of childho od mortality in developing countries, using verbal autopsy, was admini stered to mothers or care takers whose under five children died within five years prior to data collection. A total of 5,001 households were visited and 428 deaths were identified. Infant and child mortality ra tes were estimated as 103 per 1000 live births and 41 per 1000 childre n respectively. The most common causes of mortality were respiratory t ract infections, diarrhoea and malnutrition. The method of verbal auto psy if used with well tested and validated criteria may be of great he lp in describing mortality patterns in places where there is no regula r surveillance of mortality. Based on the results, intervention packag es on the most common causes of mortality at different levels of healt h care can be devised.