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The article presents a paper that estimates the net effect of seasonality on child mortality in Matlab, Bangladesh. Earlier studies on the seasonal patterns pf death under age 5 for tropical countries like Bangladesh relied primarily on monthly series of deaths and did not base their analyses on person-calendar-months of exposure, which are needed to calculate monthly rates. Therefore they could not estimate the seasonality effect. So, this paper analyzes mortality rates at ages 1-4 for two birth cohorts of the Matlab, Bangladesh by calendar month. The analysis focuses on seasonal variations in cause-specific mortality and on the relationship of these variables to the Matlab interventions, child's gender, and socioeconomic circumstances. Seasonality and its possible interactive effects with other covariates on child mortality are estimated separately for diarrheal and non-diarrheal diseases. Results suggest that childhood mortality was well above the average monthly level in the hot, dry month of April and in November the first harvest month of the aman crop. It was found to be remarkably low in the post harvest months of February and March, and also in August. During the hungry months of September and October, children were at a considerably increased risk of mortality particularly from diarrheal diseases, if mothers had no schooling, but this was not the case if mothers had schooling. The protective effect of the Matlab interventions on childhood death from diarrheaI diseases was also greater during the hungry months than during other months of the year.

This paper presents the impact of numerical methods used to solve the problem of synthesis of signals modulated in frequency with an autocorrelation function that implements an optimal approximation to a given autocorrelation function. After theoretical introduction an algorithm of frequency modulated signal synthesis is presented. Simulation results made in Matlab are presented in the last section. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on a population-based sample survey of 2,289 children aged less than five years (under-five children) conducted in 2000 as a baseline for the Bangladesh component of the Multi-country Evaluation (MCE) of the Integrated Management of Childhood Illness strategy. Of interest were rates and differentials by sex and socioeconomic status for three aspects of child health in rural Bangladesh: morbidity and hospitalizations, including severity of illness; care-seeking for childhood illness; and home-care for illness. The survey was carried out among a population of about 380,000 in Matlab upazila (subdistrict). Generic MCE Household Survey tools were adapted, translated, and pretested. Trained interviewers conducted the survey in the study areas. In total, 2,289 under-five children were included in the survey. Results showed a very high prevalence of illness among Bangladeshi children, with over two-thirds reported to have had at least one illness during the two weeks preceding the survey. Most sick children in this population had multiple symptoms, suggesting that the use of the IMCI clinical guidelines will lead to improved quality of care. Contrary to expectations, there were no significant differences in the prevalence of illness either by sex or by socioeconomic status. About one-third of the children with a reported illness did not receive any care outside the home. Of those for whom outside care was sought, 42% were taken to a village doctor. Only 8% were taken to an appropriate provider, i.e. a health facility, a hospital, a doctor, a paramedic, or a community-based health worker. Poorer children than less-poor children were less likely to be taken to an appropriate healthcare provider. The findings indicated that children with severe illness in the least poor households were three times more likely to seek care from a trained provider than children in the poorest households. Any evidence of gender inequities in child healthcare, either in terms of prevalence of illness or care-seeking patterns, was not found. Care-seeking patterns were associated with the perceived severity of illness, the presence of danger signs, and the duration and number of symptoms. The results highlight the challenges that will need to be addressed as IMCI is implemented in health facilities and extended to address key family and community practices, including extremely low rates of use of the formal health sector for the management of sick children. Child health planners and researchers must find ways to address the apparent population preference for untrained and traditional providers which is determined by various factors, including the actual and perceived quality of care, and the differentials in care-seeking practices that discriminate against the poorest households. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a paper that studies the familial association of neonatal mortality in Matlab, Bangladesh and its relationship to birth-spacing effects on mortality. A number of studies of the determinants of infant and child mortality have found that siblings' deaths tend to be associated, even after taking into account a variety of socioeconomic, behavioral, and biological factors. The death of the preceding child also has a direct effect on length of birth interval. The present study has two objectives. The first is to study the structure of the association of siblings' risks and its relationship to birth-interval effects on neonatal mortality. It focuses on neonatal mortality because preliminary results revealed that both the association of siblings' risks and the birth-interval effects are strongest in the neonatal period. This comparison provides investigators with a basis for evaluating the suitability of these methods for future applications to studies of infant and child mortality. Findings suggest that familial association is strongest for siblings of adjacent birth orders. Moreover, birth-spacing effects on neonatal mortality are stronger when the preceding child has survived the neonatal period than when it has died.

The data for this study come from Matlab, a rural area of Bangladesh, where a continuous registration of demographic events has been maintained by the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh since 1966. A total of 11,951 first marriages of Muslims that took place in the area between 1975 and 1987 were followed until the end of 1989, to examine the relationship between parental marriage breakdown and survival of first live-born children. The impact of divorce on survival of children during infancy and childhood was examined, using hazard analysis. Other independent variables included age of mother at birth, and mother's education, year of birth, sex of children, and residence at the time of childbirth. It is shown that the net odds of death among children of divorced mothers in infancy and childhood were respectively 3.2 and 1.4 times higher than those of mothers whose marriages continued. The paper also discusses the possible mechanisms which link divorce and child survival. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]