Abstract
Female literacy plays a critical role on the overall growth and development of society. It has been proved from research that children who are taken care of by literate mothers get all round development in every aspect of their life. This paper analysed the impact of female literacy rate on the infant mortality and maternal mortality rate in different districts of Kashmir valley. For this linear regression method was used which shows the impact of female literacy rate on infant mortality rate and maternal mortality rate. From the result it has been observed that there is inverse relationship between female literacy rate and infant mortality and maternal mortality rate in districts of Kashmir valley. This study analysed that female literacy has immense contribution in declining the infant mortality rate and maternal mortality rate and thus help in improving the health status of both women and child.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adhikari, R., & Sawangdee, Y. (2011). Influence of women’s autonomy on infant mortality in Nepal. Reproductive Health, 8(4), 1–8.
Basu, A. M., & Stephenson, R. (2005). Low level of maternal education and the proximity determinants of childhood mortality: A little learning is not a dangerous thing. Social Science and Medicine, 60(9), 2011–2023.
Borooah, V. K. (2004). The role of maternal literacy in reducing the risk of child malnutrition in India. Journal of Quantitative Economics, 2(2), 186–202.
Caldwell, J. C. (1979). Education as factor in mortality decline: An examination of Nigerian Data. Population Studies, 33(3), 395–413.
Caldwell, J. C. (1986). Routes to low mortality in poor countries. Population and Development Review, 12(2), 171–220. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1728-4457.2010.00353.x.
Cochrane, S. H. (1980). The socio-economic determinants of mortality: The cross national evidence. In S. H. Cochrane, O. H. Donald, & L. Joanne (Eds.), The effects of education on health, World Bank Staff Working Paper No. 405. Washington, DC: World Bank.
Davidson, P. M., McGrath, S. J., Meleis, A. I., Stern, P., DiGiacomo, M., Dharmendra, T., Correa-de-Araujo, R., Campbell, J. C., Hochleitner, M., Messias, D. K. H., Brown, H., Teitelman, A., Sindhu, S., Reesman, K., Richter, S., Sommers, M. S., Schaeffer, D., Stringer, M., Sampselle, C., Anderson, D., Tuazon, J. A., Cao, Y., & Krassen Covan, E. (2011). The health of women and girls determines the health and well-being of our modern world: A white paper from the International Council on Women’s Health Issues. Health Care for Women International, 32(10), 870–886.
Gakidou, E., Cowling, K., Lozano, R., & Murray, C. (2010). Increased education attainment and its effects on child mortality in 175 countries between 1970 and 2009: A systematic analysis. Lancet, 376(9745), 959–974.
Gibson, J. (2001). Literacy and intrahousehold externalities. World Development, 29(1), 155–166.
Gokhale, M. K., Rao, S. S., & Garole, V. R. (2002). Infant mortality in India: Use of maternal and child health services in relations to literacy status. Journal of Health Population and Nutrition, 20(2), 138–147.
Goldman, J. D. G. (2010). Sexuality education for young people: A theoretically integrated approach from Australia. Educational Research, 52(1), 81–99.
Govindasamy, P., & Ramesh, B. M. (1997). Maternal education and utilization of maternal and child health services in India. National family health survey subject report no. 5. Mumbai International Institute for Population Sciences and Calvarton, Maryland Macro International, pp. 1–28.
Grosse, R. N., & Auffrey, C. (1989). Literacy and health status in developing countries. Annual Review of Public Health, 10, 281–297. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.pu.10.050189.001433.
Hobecraft, J. N., Mc Donald, R. W., & Rutstein, S. O. (1984). Demographic determinants of infant and early child mortality: Comparative analysis. Population Studies, 39(3), 363–385.
Ibeh, C. C. (2008). Is poor maternal mortality index in Nigeria a problem of care utilization? A case study of Anambra State. African Journal of Reproductive Health, 12(2), 132–140.
Ijaz, Z. (2012). Impact of female literacy rate and health facilities on infant mortality rate in Pakistan. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 2(13), 135–140.
Karsh, I., Jungeblut, A., Jenkins, L., & Kolstad, A. (2006). Adult literacy in America: A first look at the result of the national adult literacy survey. Washington, DC: National Centre for Education Statistics, US Department of Education.
Kateja, A. (2007). Role of female literacy in maternal and infant mortality decline. Social Change, 37(2), 29–39.
Levine, R. A., & Rowe M. L. (2009). Maternal literacy and child heath in less developed countries: Evidence, processes and limitation. BMJ, 30(4), 340–349.
Macassa, G., Ghilagaber, G., Bernhar, E., Diderichsen, F., & Burstrom, B. (2003). Inequalities in child mortality in Mozambique: Differentials by parental socio-economic position. Social Science & Medicine, 57(12), 2255–2264.
Maternal and Child Health Services in India, National Family Health Survey Subject Report No. 5. Mumbai International institute for Population Sciences and Calvarton, Maryland Marco International. https://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/FRIND3/FRIND3-Vol1%5BOct-17-2008%5D.pdf.
McTavish, S., Moore, S., Harper, S., & Lynch, J. (2010). National female literacy, individual socio-economic status, and maternal health care use in sub-Saharan Africa. Social Science and Medicine, 71(11), 1958–1963.
Mehta, S. R., Parmar, G. B., Gamit, C. L., Mansuri B. M., Patel, P. B., & Patel, S. S. (2014). Does maternal education affect maternal and child health care utilization: A community based study in an urban slum area of western India. IJIMS, 1(10), 80–87.
Pillai, V. K., Maleku, A., & Wei, F. H. (2013). Maternal mortality and female literacy rates in developing countries during 1970–2000: A latent growth curve analysis. International Journal of Population Research. https://doi.org/10.1155/2013/163292.
Rao, R. S. P., Chakladar, B. K., Nair, N. S., Kutty, P. R., Acharya, D., Bhat, V., et al. (1996). Influence of parental literacy and socio-economic status on infant mortality. The Indian Journal of Pediatrics, 63(6), 795–800.
Ravallion, M., & Wodon, Q. (2000), Does child labour displaces schooling evidence on behavioural response to a enrolment subsidy in Bangladesh. Economic Journal, 110(462), 158–176.
Sandiford, P., Cassel, J., Montenegro, M., & Sanchez, G. (1995). The impact of women’s literacy on child health and its interaction with acess to health services. Population Studies, 49(1), 5–17.
Shawky, S. (2001). Infant mortality in Arab countries: Socio-demographic, perinatal and economic factors. Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal, 7, 956–965.
Shetty, A., & Shraddha, S. (2014). Impact of female literacy on infant mortality rate on Indian states. Current Pediatric Research, 18(1), 49–56.
Shiffman, J. (2000). Can poor countries surmount high maternal mortality? Studies in Family Planning, 31(4), 274–289.
Sufiyan, M. B., Umar, A. A., & Bashir, S. S. (2012). Effect of maternal literacy on nutritional status of children under 5 years of age in the Babban-Dodo community Zaria city, Northwest Nigeria. Annals of Nigerian Medicine, 6(2), 61.
Thaddeus, S., & Maine, D. (1994). Too far to walk: Maternal mortality in context. Social Science and Medicine, 38(8), 1091–1110.
UnitedNations. (1985). Socio economic differentials in child mortality in developing countries, STESA/SER.A/97. New York: United Nations Publications.
Vikram, K., Vanneman, R., & Desai, S. (2012). Linkages between maternal education and childhood immunization in India. Social Science & Medicine, 75(2), 331–339.
Ware, H. (1984). Effects of maternal education, women’s role and child care on child mortality. In H. W. Hosley, & l. C. Chen, (Eds.), Child survival strategies, Population and Development Review Supplement (Vol. 10).
Weiss, B. D. (2003). Health literacy: A manual for clinicians. Chicago: American Medical Association.
Weiss, B. D., Hart, G., & Pust, R. E. (1991). The relationship between literacy and health. Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, 1(35), 1–63.
Yin, H. S., Forbis, S. G., & Dreyer B. P. (2007). Health literacy and paediatric health. Current Problems in Pediatric and Adolescent Health Care, 37(7), 258–286.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Batool, N., Shah, S.A., Dar, S.N. et al. Impact of female literacy on infant mortality and maternal mortality in Kashmir valley: a district level analysis. GeoJournal 85, 1545–1551 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-019-10041-1
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-019-10041-1