Trends and Socio-Economic Gradients in Adulty Mortality Around the Developing World

Premature mortality in developed countries is negatively associated with income and education.the same gradient is expected in developing countries,although, given the lack of vital registration systems, its existence has been more difficult to demonstrate.what has generally been shown is that the poor are more likely to experience poor health and less likely to have access to health services (Filmer 2005; Gwatkin,wagstaff, and Yazbeck 2005).Additional information is available over a wide range of socio-economic differences in health, nutrition, and population including indicators on child mortality, malnutrition, fertility, immunization coverage, treatment of diarrhea and acute respiratory infections, antenatal care visits and delivery attendance, use of modern contraception, and knowledge of Hiv/aids prevention (Gwatkinet al. 2007). However,adult mortality is not included among the indicators reported.Since adult mortality is the most objective measure of adult health(as opposed to self-reported health status or diseases), analyzing the socio-economic gradient in premature adult mortality adds to our knowledge about the disparities in health in developing countries.