Age patterns of child mortality in the developing world.

"This article uses the data from [a] United Nations database, supplemented in a few cases with information from local studies thought to be of particular accuracy, to examine age patterns of child mortality [in developing countries]. The focus is on the split between infant mortality--that is, mortality before the first birthday, and child mortality, between the exact ages of 1 and 5 years.... The underlying objective of the article is to identify regional patterns, both because the epidemiology and social behaviours underlying child mortality are likely to be similar across regions and because such identified patterns could then be used to guide the selection of a model life-table family when using indirect estimation methods in countries of a region." excerpt