Deaths of Children Under One Year of Age and the Quality of Primary Care

The first year of life is one of the periods of greatest risk of death, so infant mortality has been considered a sensitive indicator of the social and health conditions of human populations. Reducing infant mortality is one of the main goals of primary health care. Knowing the causes of death and associated factors can help support health services in reducing infant mortality. The results of this study suggest that there may be deficiencies in the quality of primary care provided to children, especially in prenatal care and the care provided to newborns, due to the high number of deaths that could have been reduced by effective action on the part of the health services. The differences in size found in this study indicate that the deficiencies are not only related to high technology, such as ICUs and sophisticated equipment, but also to soft technologies, such as better care for pregnancy, high-risk labour and newborn care in the first days of life.