Seasonal Variation for Infant Mortality: A Study of Haridwar District of Uttarakhand

The infant mortality rate is an important factor of nation's socio-economic welfare. In the process of development of a state or a nation, infant mortality has been gaining its importance. It is expressed as a rate per 1000 live births of a child born in a specified year dying before reaching the age of one, has become a prime focus for many researches and public policies. Thus, reduction in IMR is likely the most important objective in Millennium Development Goals (MDG). In the study, for the consecutive 6 years (2008–2013), the seasonal variations of neonatal, post-neonatal and overall infant deaths were analyzed in the Haridwar district of Uttarakhand, State of India. The researcher has relied upon secondary data which have been collected from the CMO Office, Haridwar. The main motivation of the paper is to demonstrate the seasonal variation exhibited by the infant mortality. For the study of seasonal movement, monthly data was used for the period of 2008–2013. Indices of seasonal variations were estimated by the method of simple averages separately for both neonatal and post-neonatal infant deaths. Poisson regression model was employed to measure the seasonal effects on the overall infant deaths.