Infant and child mortality and malaria in the Congo. The trend in the suburbs of Brazzaville between 1981 and 1988.
This survey was carried out on a cohort of children born between 1st January 1981 and 30th June 1987 in the maternity department of the hospital in Linzolo, a village situated 25 km south-west of Brazzaville, the capital of the Congo. The mothers of the children resided in the suburbs of Brazzaville at the time of delivery. In this region, the rate of transmission of Plasmodium falciparum malaria is high without marked seasonable variations. The mothers and children were traced in the second quarter of 1989 in order to assess the rates and, where possible, the causes of mortality. Information on 75% of the recorded births (2424 children) was obtained directly by interviewing the mothers in the home. Between 1981 and 1988, the infant mortality rate varied overall between 33 and 52 per thousand, and in the 1-2 year age group, between 7 and 25 per thousand (1981 to 1987). The number of deaths attributable to malaria was relatively low although resistance to amino-4-quinolone is well established since 1985. During this period, no particular trend was observed in the mortality at 0-2 years, or at 0-5 years.
Carme
B
B
Faculté de Médecine et CHRU d'Amiens, Hôpital Sud, France.
Guillo du Bodan
H
H
Lallemant
M
M
D002675:Child, Preschool; D015331:Cohort Studies; D015023:Democratic Republic of the Congo; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007226:Infant Mortality; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D016778:Malaria, Falciparum / Q000401:mortality*; D008297:Male; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013383:Suburban Population; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires