The effect of divorce on infant mortality in a remote area of Bangladesh

The process of divorce is usually lengthy and hazardous, and can start quar rels that can lead to the abuse of women and their children. This study exa mines the effects of divorce on neonatal and postneonatal mortality of babi es born before and after divorce in Teknaf, a remote area of Bangladesh. Th e longitudinal demographic surveillance system (DSS) followed 1762 Muslim m arriages in 1982-83 for 5 years to record divorce, deaths of spouse, emigra tion and births. It recorded 2696 live births during the follow-up period, and their survival status during infancy. Logistic regression models were u sed to estimate the effect of divorce on neonatal and postneonatal mortalit y, controlling for maternal age at birth, parity, sex of the child and hous ehold economic status. The odds of neonatal and postneonatal deaths among b abies born after divorce or less than 12 months before mothers were divorce d were more than double the odds of those born to mothers of intact marriag es. The odds of postneonatal deaths were two times higher among babies born more than 12 months before divorce happens than their peers. The high mort ality of infants born before and after mothers were divorced may reflect: h ow abusive marriage and divorce increase the vulnerability of women and chi ldren in rural Bangladesh. Divorce and abuse of women are difficult and int ractable social and health problems that must be addressed.