Infant mortality and health care in the Arabian Gulf region.

This study begins with a brief description of data quality of health surveys conducted in the Arab Gulf states (GCC) of Saudi Arabia Bahrain Oman Kuwait Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Then this article examines the trends levels and variations in infant mortality among the six GCC countries. The health surveys in these countries include sampling deficiencies in either excluding nomadic populations or including non-nationals. Data on these largely illiterate populations are expected to result in numerous errors in establishing correct dates of birth age and death. Indirect estimates of infant mortality are produced with the Brass method as modified by Trussell based on pregnancy history data from recent Gulf child health surveys. Findings indicate that only Saudi Arabia had high infant mortality rates of 50/1000 while the other five countries showed quite low levels for the most recent time period. Oman data were particularly suspicious because infant mortality declined by 75% in 15 years and a large proportion of the population was illiterate. In the three countries with sex data on infant mortality findings indicate lower infant mortality among females. There was no evidence of the higher female infant mortality that was recorded in Egypt and Jordan. Infant mortality was lower in urban areas as expected among the three countries reporting this type of information. Child mortality among older women was experienced by 1 out of 9 Qatar women 1 out of 8 Saudi women and 1 out of 8 UAE women. Child loss was low among younger women and higher for rural and illiterate women. Findings indicate that smaller countries had lower infant mortality than larger countries with dispersed populations. All countries experienced infant mortality declines and the socioeconomic differences varied by country. Prenatal care was higher than postnatal care in almost all countries. Trends in infant mortality appeared to be inconsistent with levels of maternity care and child health care.