The Determinants of Infant Mortality in Brazil, 2010–2020: A Scoping Review

Alexandre Bugelli, Roxane Borgès Da Silva, Ladislau Dowbor and Claude Sicotte
Additional contact information
Alexandre Bugelli: École de Santé Publique de l’Université de Montréal (ESPUM), 7101, Park Avenue, 3rd Floor, Montreal, QC H3N 1X9, Canada
Roxane Borgès Da Silva: École de Santé Publique de l’Université de Montréal (ESPUM), 7101, Park Avenue, 3rd Floor, Montreal, QC H3N 1X9, Canada
Ladislau Dowbor: School of Economics and Business Administration Graduate Program, Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo (PUCSP), Rua Monte Alegre, 984, Perdizes, São Paulo CEP 05014-901, Brazil
Claude Sicotte: École de Santé Publique de l’Université de Montréal (ESPUM), 7101, Park Avenue, 3rd Floor, Montreal, QC H3N 1X9, Canada

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 12, 1-28

Abstract: Despite the implementation of social and health policies that positively affected the health of the populations in Brazil, since 2009 the country has experienced a slower decline of infant mortality. After an economic and political crisis, Brazil witnessed increases in infant mortality that raised questions about what are the determinants of infant mortality after the implementation of such policies. We conducted a scoping review to identify and summarize those determinants with searches in three databases: LILACS, MEDLINE, and SCIELO. We included studies published between 2010 and 2020. We selected 23 papers: 83% associated infant mortality with public policies; 78% related infant mortality with the use of the health system and socioeconomic and living conditions; and 27% related to individual characteristics to infant mortality. Inequalities in the access to healthcare seem to have important implications in reducing infant mortality. Socioeconomic conditions and health-related factors such as income, education, fertility, housing, and the Bolsa Família . Program coverage was pointed out as the main determinants of infant mortality. Likewise, recent changes in infant mortality in Brazil are likely related to these factors. We also identified a gap in terms of studies on a possible association between employment and infant mortality.

Keywords: infant mortality; health capabilities; public policies; social determinants of health; conditional cash transfer program; Bolsa Familia Program; primary care; Family Health Strategy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/12/6464/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/12/6464/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:12:p:6464-:d:575220

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().