Sibling Death Clustering Among the Tribes of Central and Eastern India: An Application of Random Effects Dynamic Probit Model

Abstract

The Infant mortality rate (IMR) has been considered as a highly sensitive measure of population health. This reflects the apparent association between the causes of infant mortality and other factors that are likely to influence the health status of populations such as their economic development, general living conditions, social wellbeing, rates of illness, and the quality of the environment (Whitehouse 1982). There were around 4.6 million deaths (74% of all under-five deaths) occurred within the first year of life (WHO 2011). Globally, IMR has decreased from an estimated rate of 63 deaths per 1000 live births in 1990 to 34 deaths per 1000 live births in 2013 (UNICEF 2014).