Afghan child mortality linked to uneducated mothers

Afghan children study the basics for learning Koran in an open half-built mosque on the outskirts of Kabul, June 11, 2008. (Ahmad Masood/Reuters)

HONG KONG (Reuters) - High child mortality rates in conservative Afghanistan are linked not just to war but to mothers being uneducated and having little or no say when their children need medical help, a study has found.

2,474 children from 1,327 households in Kabul province found that diarrhoea (32.5 percent), acute respiratory infection (41 percent), emaciation (12.4 percent) and stuntedness (39.9 percent) were among the most common health problems

mothers are subject to a number of restrictions in the decision-making process regarding child healthcare

problems correlated most closely with mothers not having any autonomy (79.1 percent) and education (71.7 percent)

Up to 18.3 percent of the mothers also delivered their first child before they were 16, which meant they were married when they were still children

one out of every five Afghan children (or 191 out of every 1,000 live births) will not survive beyond age five