IMPACT OF HOUSEHOLD ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS ON CHILD SURVIVAL IN RURAL MAHARASHTRA

Survival of infants and young children remains one of the most important issues in the developing world. Around the world, more than 10 million children under five years of age die every year, Twenty to 25 percent children born in developing countries die before their fifth birthday (Mosley 1985). Diarrhea, Pneumonia and malaria are the leading killers of children, accounting for nearly half of all child deaths globally. Most deaths of children under age five in developing countries have been linked to the household environment. This study attempted to understand the influence of women's socio-economic and demographic characteristics, and the influence of household environmental conditions on child survival in rural Maharashtra. Analysis is based on data from District Level Household Survey -3. Study finds that incidence of child loss is 78 percent among the children living in the household without toilet facility. It is 82 percent in household where wood is used as cooking fuel. An incidence of child loss based on water purification method adopted at household level indicates that those households used cloth for purification of water incidence of child loss is 47 percent. Child loss is around 48 percent for mothers in age group 20-24 years. It is found that child loss for working mothers was quite high (74 percent).