Infant mortality, neonatal and postnatal (Spain)
The rate of infant mortality for under 1s in a year was the most frequently used indicator for evaluating infant health while postnatal deaths (between 28 days and 12 months) were higher than neonatal ones (before 28 days). Infant mortality reduced significantly due to control of the causes of postnatal death, mainly of infectious or nutritional origin, and this focussed medical interest on reducing neonatal deaths. Thus, neonatal mortality started to be used as a health indicator.
In Spain in 1900, 200 under 1s died for every 1,000 births, a figure similar to that of Angola in 1997 (191), the country with the highest rate of infant death at the end of the 20th century, where even today, the rates of neonatal and postnatal infant deaths have not inverted. In Spain inversion of the rates for neonatal (16.1 %0) and postnatal (14.5%) occurred in 1964.
Photo, Patricia Elena Suárez