WATERING THE NEIGHBOUR'S GARDEN: THE GROWING - CICRED

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S. AGRAWAL - S. UNISA
significantly higher than for female children among women with two to
three children ever born. About 19 percent of women with no boy
experienced the death of at least female child as against 9 percent of
women with one or more male surviving child (Figure 1). This indirectly
indicates that when women are without a male child, mortality
risks prove higher for female children.
Table 2 Percentage of child death by sex according to birth order
Percentage of child death
Female-to-male
Birth order Male Female Total mortality ratio
Up to 3** 21.6 15.5 16.9 0.7
More than 3*** 9.8 17.8 13.5 1.8
Total 14.7 16.1 15.6 1.1
Notes: Chi-sq test significance level: ** at 5% level; *** at 1% level.
3.1.2. Excess of female deaths over male deaths by male child surviving and children
ever born
Figure 1 Percentage of women having lost a female child according to the
number of children ever-born and surviving boys
% death of female child
50
40
30
20
10
0
no surviving male child
at least one surviving male
child
2-3 4 and more
number of children ever-born
3.1.3. Gender differentials in the morbidity pattern, treatment seeking and immunization
among non-surviving children
It is evident from the analysis that the diseases, which could be
prevented by childhood vaccinations, such as tetanus and measles,
were found to be higher among female children. Moreover, iron deficiency
diseases such as anaemia were also more common among fe-