ABSTRACT
The demographic surveys conducted in central Mali during 1981–2 indicated that infant and child mortality levels were high and had not changed in the previous fifteen years (see Chapter 2). Comparison with some earlier figures for the Mopti Region collected in 1957 indicated that little improvement had taken place even over this much longer period (see Tables 19 to 22 and Figure 14 in Hill, Randall and Sullivan, 1982 for details). It was not very surprising to find that high infant and child mortality extends into the 1980s but the substantial variations in child mortality between ethnic groups, even those living in the same ecological zone, were much more striking. Further analysis revealed that marked differences in child survival exist between different social classes within the same group living together in identical environmental circumstances. Accounting for these differentials entirely in terms of pathological processes seemed inadequate: some studies based on observation of behaviour and understanding of beliefs related to child care appeared necessary.
