© 1981 by Oxford University Press
research-article |
Childbearing and Breast Feeding in Rural BoliviaA Household Survey
School of Public Health, University of California Los Angeles, California 90024
Proyecto de Salud Rural Montero, Santa Cruz, Bolivia
Division of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of California Los Angeles, California
Information was gathered during the last three months of 1977 on 605 households (98% participation) as part of a health survey in the Montero region of eastern Bolivia. The annual fertility rate was 278 per 1000 women aged 1544 years, four times that in the USA during the same year. The average cost of 185 deliveries during the prior year was $10.31 (USA), 40% of which was for medication, 40% for fees, 3% for transportation, and 17% for other expenses. Nearly eight of every 10 deliveries occurred in the home. Among children less than one year of age, nearly all (97%) were currently being breast-fed. The median weaning age for those children less than six years old who had stopped breast-feeding was 12 months of age. The results of this survey are intended to aid the Bolivian government to more effectively plan for the delivery of rural health services.810