a study of social and economic factors affectingunder-5 children mortality as in rural area of ahwaz in 2009

we aimed to clarify the status and causes of mortality and to provide a general strategy to increase the longevity and improve human health. mortality rate of under 5 years old is an important indicator of development in different communities and reveals their life quality. it was a case – control study, data was collected from all deaths of under five years that had been recorded in rural areas of ahwaz city (104 deaths) in 2009, which was named the case group. the control group was selected with the same birth date, age and residence for each case group. data was collected through questionnaire. we had collected death certificates from health centers. data has entered by spss software (version 17) & data was performed using t – test and chi- square test. in this study, 53.5% of mortality had occurred in the neonatal period, 32.7% in one-month to one-year and 13.9% in one-year to five- years. the most important causes of death were fetal growth (30.4%), respiratory system anomalies (18.6%) and cardiovascular anomalies (10.8%) respectively. the findings reported a significant correlation between child mortality with the father's education and family class. statistical tests did not show a significant correlation between mother's educations, number of ideal children, mean income and preferring boys with children mortality correlate. improving pregnancy care, prevention of preterm deliveries, increasing health knowledge of mothers about infant care, changing the socio-economic status, educational intervention programs for high risk groups, preparing a medical team for premature births, nicu equipment as well as promote public education may have an effective role in reducing mortality among newborns and infants.