Estimating Infant Mortality Rate From DHS Full Birth Histories in the Presence of Age Heaping

Julio E. Romero Prieto , Banco de la República, Colombia
Andrea Verhulst, University of Pennsylvania
Michel Guillot, University of Pennsylvania

The Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) is an issue in areas of the world lacking reliable records, but estimations are possible from the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS). Due to the heaping at the age of 12 months, survey estimates of IMR are rarely used and indirect estimations based on Model Life Tables are generally preferred. However, this approach disregards any characteristic related to the pattern of mortality of a target population. If included, the IMR could be estimated more efficiently. Using a new model, this paper describes an indirect method to estimate the IMR from survey data. This method was applied to a total of 261 DHS. Preliminary results indicate that 82 surveys have a satisfactory fitting and the model allows a proper correction of the IMR. For these populations, age heaping arises from downwards age transfers, which have no impact on the direct estimation of the IMR.

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 Presented in Session 109. Measurement Challenges and Innovations in Infant and Child Health and Mortality