Demographic and Health Survey 2009-10 - Timor-Leste Ministry of ...

8.6 PERINATAL MORTALITY
The perinatal mortality rate serves
as a good indicator of the state of health of
a population generally, and this holds true
at delivery in particular. It reflects the level
of utilisation of health services and the
ability of women to cope with the demands
of childbirth to deliver a healthy baby.
Women in the TLDHS 2009-10 were asked
to report on any pregnancy loss that
occurred in the five years preceding the
survey. For each pregnancy that did not end
in a live birth, the duration of pregnancy
was recorded. In this report, perinatal
deaths include pregnancy losses of at least
seven months’ gestation (stillbirths) and
deaths among live births that occurred
within the first seven days of life (early
neonatal deaths). The perinatal mortality
rate is the sum of stillbirths and early
neonatal deaths divided by the sum of all
stillbirths and live births. Information on
stillbirths and infant deaths that occurred
within the first week of life is highly susceptible
to omission and misreporting.
However, retrospective surveys such as the
TLDHS 2009-10 generally provide more
representative and accurate perinatal death
rates than the vital registration system and
hospital-based studies.
Table 8.4 shows that out of the
9,850 reported pregnancies of at least seven
months’ gestation, 22 were stillbirths and
158 were early neonatal deaths, yielding an
overall perinatal mortality rate of 18 per
1,000 pregnancies of seven or more
months’ duration. Perinatal mortality is
highest among mothers less than age 20 (24
per 1,000 pregnancies) and lowest among
mothers age 20-29 (16 per 1,000 pregnancies).
First pregnancies and pregnancies
that occur after an interval of less than 15
months are much more likely than pregnan-
Table 8.4 Perinatal mortality
Number of stillbirths and early neonatal deaths, and the perinatal
mortality rate for the five-year period preceding the survey, by
background characteristics, Timor-Leste 2009-10
Background
characteristic
Number
of
stillbirths 1
Number
of early
neonatal
deaths 2
Perinatal
mortality
rate 3
Number
of
pregnancies
of 7+
months
duration
Mother’s age at birth