Preventable infant mortality in Minas Gerais: epidemiological and spatial profile

Abstract

Infant mortality is a public health problem and an important public health indicator, considering that part of these deaths occurs from preventable causes. This study aimed to identify spatial clusters of deaths of children between 0 and 4 years old, the preventable causes of death, and epidemiological variables in Minas Gerais, between 2011 and 2015, which may allow improvements in planning health services in the state. In decreasing order, the interventions that most contributed to reduce the incidence of these deaths were the delivery of care to women during pregnancy and childbirth, newborn care, and the actions related to diagnosis and treatment, health promotion, and immunoprevention. In addition, we found that 46.85% of deaths from preventable causes occurred during the neonatal period, 43.19% of the children were brown and 55.27% were boys. As for spatial territorial analysis, this mortality is mainly concentrated in the North, Vale do Mucuri and Jequitinhonha mesoregions.